Xi Jinping will serve a historic third term as China’s president

Xi Jinping was awarded a third term as China’s president on Friday, capping a rise that saw him become the country’s most powerful leader in generations.

The appointment by China’s parliament comes after Xi remained in October for another five years at the head of the Communist Party and the military – the two most important leadership positions in Chinese politics.

Since then, 69-year-old Xi has endured widespread protests over his zero-Covid policy and its subsequent halt, which left countless people dead.

Those issues have been avoided at this week’s National People’s Congress, a carefully choreographed event that will also appoint Xi ally Li Qiang as the new prime minister.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is applauded as he arrives for the Third Plenary Session of the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 10, 2023

And on Friday, they handed Xi a third term as China’s president — the culmination of a remarkable rise that has seen him rise from a relatively little-known party apparatchik to the leader of a global superpower.

His coronation sets him up to become modern China’s longest-serving president, and will mean Xi will rule well into his 70s – if no challenger emerges.

Adrian Geiges, co-author of “Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World,” told AFP he did not think Xi was motivated by a desire for personal enrichment, despite international media investigations showing his family’s amassed wealth revealed.

“That’s not his interest,” Geiges said.

“He really has a vision about China, he wants to see China as the most powerful country in the world.”

For decades, China—marked by the dictatorial rule and cult of personality of founding leader Mao Zedong—eschewed one-man rule in favor of a more consensual, but still autocratic, leadership.

That model imposed term limits on the largely ceremonial role of the presidency, with Xi’s predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao abdicating power after 10 years in office.

President Xi Jinping pictured at a plenary meeting of the delegation of the People’s Liberation Army and People’s Police during the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress in Beijing, on March 8, 2023

High school students gather in front of a screen showing an image of Chinese President Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) is congratulated by Li Qiang after being unanimously elected president at a session of China’s National People’s Congress

Chinese President Xi Jinping, 69, applauds during a session of China’s National People’s Congress. He was unanimously elected chairman at the meeting

Xi tore up that rulebook, abolished term limits in 2018 and allowed a cult of personality to further his all-powerful leadership.

But the start of its unprecedented third term as China’s leader comes as the world’s second-largest economy faces major headwinds, from slowing growth and a troubled real estate sector to a declining birth rate.

Relations with the United States are also at an all-time low not seen in decades, with the powers-that-be sparring on everything from human rights to trade and technology.

“We will see a China that is more assertive on the global stage and pushes for its narrative to be accepted,” Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute, told AFP.

“But it is also one that will focus on making our country less dependent on the rest of the world, and make the Communist Party the center of governance, rather than the Chinese government,” he said.

“It’s not a return to the Maoist era, but one where Maoists will feel comfortable,” Tsang added.

“No direction of travel that is good for the rest of the world.”