- Title: Country file of Communist China as pivotal Party Congress approaches
- Date: 10th October 2022
- Summary: Beijing hosted its second Olympics in 2022, 14 years after staging the Summer Games. The Beijing Games, contained inside a "closed-loop", were the second Olympics in six months to be deprived by COVID-19 of much of its festivity. ZHANGJIAKOU, HEBEI PROVINCE, CHINA (FILE - NOVEMBER 20, 2021) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE SHOT OF SNOWMAKING CROSS COUNTRY VENUE DRONE SHOT OF THE NATIONAL SKI JUMP CENTRE DRONE SHOT OF SLOPE OF AERIALS VENUE SHANGHAI, CHINA (FILE - FEBRUARY 20, 2022) (REUTERS) SCREEN BROADCASTING THE BEIJING 2022 WINTER OLYMPICS CLOSING CEREMONY / PEOPLE SITTING IN BAR SCREEN SHOWING XI AND WIFE WEARING MASKS, AND WAVING AT THE BEIJING 222 WINTER OLYMPICS CLOSING CEREMONY / PEOPLE SITTING IN BAR BEIJING, CHINA (FILE - FEBRUARY 20, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FIREWORKS OVER BEIJING'S NATIONAL STADIUM, ALSO KNOWN AS THE BIRD'S NEST
- Embargoed: 24th October 2022 01:39
- Keywords: China history party congress xi jinping
- Location: SEE SCRIPT BODY FOR LOCATIONS
- City: SEE SCRIPT BODY FOR LOCATIONS
- Country: China
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA00U008701011970RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: China's ruling Communist Party opens its 20th congress on Oct. 16 in a session that is likely to end with President Xi Jinping anointed for an unprecedented third, five-year term as the supreme leader, and a shuffle of personnel on the decision-making Politburo.
About 2,300 party members from across the country will gather, mostly behind closed doors, at the cavernous Great Hall of the People on Beijing's Tiananmen Square for a once-in-five-year congress that typically runs for about one week.
Xi will unveil his new leadership team, and the congress will also see a sweeping reshuffle of the top echelons of China’s power structure, putting in place people who will set policies – economic, diplomatic, security and social - for the next five years and beyond.
Xi, 69, has steadily consolidated power since becoming party general secretary a decade ago, eliminating any known factional opposition to his rule. He is expected to exert largely unchallenged control over key appointments and policy directives at a congress that many China-watchers liken to a coronation.
Despite headwinds that have buffeted his path to a third term - from a moribund economy, the COVID-19 pandemic and rare public protests to rising frictions with the West and tensions over Taiwan - Xi is poised to secure a mandate to pursue his grand vision for the "rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" for years to come.
Since assuming power, Xi, the son of a communist revolutionary, has strengthened the party and its role across society and eliminated space for dissent.
Under Xi, China has also become far more assertive on the global stage as a leader of the developing world and an alternative to the U.S.-led, post-World War Two order.
(Production: Aleksander Solum, Phyllis Xu) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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