Month: October 2022

Shake-up at the top of China’s Communist Party as Xi Jinping starts new term

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This means they will go into full retirement. 02:03 China’s 20th party congress concludes with bigger than expected leadership reshuffle The Central Committee, with around 200 full members, reports to the 25-member Politburo, which is headed by the Politburo Standing Committee. Making the list is essential for any important state or government position. Advertisement The reshuffle is bigger than expected. Both Li Keqiang and Wang Yang are one year short of the customary retirement age of 68 and would have stayed, according to tradition. But as Xi, firmly established as…

China: Xi Jinping passes constitution amendment as Hu Jintao escorted out – video

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The Chinese president, XI Jinping, has cemented his grip over the Communist party by passing an amendment that will enshrine his ideas and status in the party’s constitution. The move by Xi elevates his status in the party which is expected to hand him a mandate for a precedent-breaking third term as president. He closed the congress with a call to the people of China to remain confident in their ‘history, exhibit greater historical initiative, and have the courage to fight and the mettle to win’. During the congress, former…

China Hangs on Xi’s Every Word. His Silence Also Speaks Volumes.

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As China’s leader, Xi Jinping, laid out his priorities this week for a breakthrough third term in power, officials parsed his words for signs of where the country was headed. What he did not say was as revealing. The omission of two phrases from his key report to a Communist Party congress exposed his anxieties about an increasingly volatile world where Washington is contesting China’s ascent as an authoritarian superpower. For two decades, successive Chinese leaders have declared at the congress that the country was in a “period of important…

Former Chinese president Hu Jintao unexpectedly led out of party congress

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Former Chinese president Hu Jintao was unexpectedly led out of Saturday’s closing ceremony of the Communist party congress, AFP journalists on the scene witnessed. The frail-looking Hu, 79, initially seemed reluctant to leave the front row of politburo standing committee members in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, where he was sitting next to President Xi Jinping. He had brief exchanges with Xi and the premier, Li Keqiang, after stewards spoke with him. A steward, holding Hu’s arm, led the former president out. Hu patted Li’s shoulder as he left.…

China congress: How one man on a bridge marred Xi Jinping’s big moment

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With Shanghai and Beijing facing restrictions and endless rounds of Covid testing in recent months – the capital saw renewed measures on Thursday – “the middle and upper classes are really affected… it’s been a wake-up call for the privileged, they feel that the regime is hurting them too,” said Victoria Hui, a political scientist with the University of Notre Dame. BBC

Could Xi follow Putin’s example and try to annex Taiwan? – video explainer

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The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, struck a more assertive than usual note at the 20th Communist party congress in Beijing on Sunday, as he laid out his vision for the country’s relationship with the self-governing island of Taiwan. The ‘wheels of history’ were moving towards reunification, he said, and ‘complete reunification of the motherland must be achieved and can definitely be achieved’. Tensions over the island hit a nadir this summer when the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, embarked on a controversial visit to Taipei, provoking a fierce response from…

As Leaders Meet, Chinese Hope for End to ‘Zero-COVID’ Limits

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Advertisement As China’s ruling Communist Party holds a congress this week, many Beijing residents are focused on an issue not on the formal agenda: Will the end of the meeting bring an easing of China’s at times draconian “zero-COVID” policies that are disrupting lives and the economy? It appears to be wishful thinking. As the world moves to a post-pandemic lifestyle, many across China have resigned themselves to lining up several times a week for COVID-19 tests, restrictions on their travels to other regions, and the ever-present possibility of a…

China Speeds up Its ‘Look West’ Strategy

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Advertisement In September, Chinese President Xi Jinping chose Central Asia as the destination for his first trip abroad since January 2020. Soon after Xi’s Central Asia tour, where he visited Kazakhstan and attended at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan rushed to Kazakhstan to attend the sixth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). The back-to-back high-ranking visits by Chinese top leaders to Central Asian states underscore the rapid rise in China’s emphasis on national security on its…

Will the BRI Survive Economic Decoupling?

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Advertisement Since 2019, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investments by China have markedly declined. According to Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center, China’s overseas development finance in 2019 amounted to $3.9 billion dollars, far from the peak of investments in 2017 at $75 billion. Many have declared this drop to be the end of the BRI, as conflicts in implementing projects have accumulated, tensions with the West continue to rise, and the internal economic situation in China continues to deteriorate. However, the death of the BRI has been greatly exaggerated.…