China: Xi Jinping leaves no room for political challenge, picks new 'devoted' team

According to Hong Kong Post, dissent has no place in Xi Jinping's odd 'democratic' system in China.

Pic Credit: File Photo

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has chosen an entirely new team after winning the historic third term through the 20th National Congress in order to lessen the likelihood that he will face a political challenge. This is because the top leader is likely to enact more hardline policies in Beijing regarding the economy, foreign relations, and human rights. The seven most significant figures in China now make up the new Standing Committee of the party, which is chaired by Xi. The six were hand-selected by the president and are fiercely devoted to him. According to Hong Kong Post, dissent has no place in this odd `democratic` system. Senior leaders` names that circulated in the months leading up to the Congress were not included in the final list.

They comprised Hu Chunhua and Wang Yang, two credible candidates for the standing committee. Both were completely barred from power despite having a reputation for being reasonably pro-reform and experimentation.

He was not included in the 25-person Politburo, but Wang, a former member of the previous Standing Committee, didn`t even make it onto the Central Committee list of more than 200 members, Hong Kong Post reported.

No woman in top leadership position

In the Communist Party of China`s Politburo Standing Committee, key advisers to Xi were promoted, but for the first time in years, no woman was able to secure a place in the top leadership position. All of the selected members are weak political underlings with no family ties in order to lessen the likelihood that Xi will face a political challenge. Wang Huning, a nationalist theorist who was close to previous presidents, is the lone exception.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Thursday stressed promoting the great founding spirit of the Party and the spirit of Yan'an, and striving in unity for fulfilling the goals and tasks set by the 20th CPC National Congress. pic.twitter.com/Yf88MbL9rV

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) October 27, 2022

Li Qiang will officially be the most significant member of the group chosen to the Standing Committee, but in reality, he might be the least `powerful`. He was the second person to take the stage after Xi last week and will succeed Li Keqiang as premier when he officially steps down in March.

Hu Jintao was recently hauled out of the 20th Party Congress by Xi Jinping in an unseemly manner, further demonstrating the Chinese leader`s desire to maintain total power. After being elected to China`s third term as president, Xi has already begun to expel the party`s veteran leaders.

Earlier in 2015, Xi assisted in the detention of Ling Jihua, a top assistant who belonged to the same influential network of past leaders as himself. In addition to being expelled from the congress, it was said that Xi planned the entire incident to publicly embarrass his predecessor--possibly as a warm-up before using party discipline measures followed by legal action against him, according to the Hong Kong Post.

Xi Jinping as 'core' of Chinese power

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has shown at the 20th National Congress that Chairman Xi Jinping is the center of Chinese power and that no one will dare challenge him.

In order to demonstrate that he may now act whenever he pleases, Xi packed the Politburo Standing Committee with his close cronies, claims ethnic Mongolian rights campaigner Xi Haiming, who lives in Germany. A Chinese journalist, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation, claimed that China is now firmly back in the Mao era.