China’s Communist Party concluded its twice-a-decade congress on Saturday, passing amendments to its charter aimed at consolidating Xi Jinping’s central status and unveiling a new Central Committee that is missing two key officials who have no ties close with Xi.
The party’s new Central Committee does not include Premier Li Keqiang or Wang Yang, a sign that analysts say suggests the next Politburo Standing Committee, due at noon Sunday (0400 GMT), is likely to be packed with people close to Xi. .
Li, who will step down in March as premier, and Wang, who heads the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, are both 67, so according to China’s age standards they may have been five years older to the powerful Standing Committee of seven members.
None are seen to have long-term ties to Xi, who is likely to bring four new faces to the Standing Committee, according to analysts and media reports. Current members Wang Huning, 67, and Zhao Leji, 65, who are considered close to Xi, were re-elected to the 205-member Central Committee and are expected to be re-elected to the PSC.
Two other PSC members have passed retirement age.
The ex-president escorted out of congress
In an unusual moment, former President Hu Jintao was unexpectedly escorted from the closing ceremony of the congress.
Hu, Xi’s immediate predecessor, was seated to Xi’s left. The 79-year-old man was led off the stage of the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing by two administrators, a Reuters witness told the congress.
Video footage released by AFP showed an administrator repeatedly trying to lift Hu from his seat, drawing worried looks from officials sitting nearby. Hu then put his hand on a sheet of paper placed in Xi’s folder, but Xi quickly put his hand on the sheet.
LOOK | Former President Hu Jintao led the congress ceremony:
Former Chinese President Hu Jintao escorted out of the congress ceremony
The 79-year-old predecessor of current leader Xi Jinping was led off the stage of the main auditorium at the closing ceremony of China’s Communist Party Congress.
China’s top lawmaker Li Zhanshu, seated to Hu’s right, handed the former president’s file to an administrator, wiping his head with a cloth after Hu finally stood up.
Looking distressed, Hu appeared to resist leaving as administrators listened, turning back in his seat at one point. On his way out, he exchanged words with Xi and patted Premier Li Keqiang, seated to Xi’s right, on the shoulder.
Video of the incident, highly unusual given the meticulous stage management of most such events, was widely shared on Twitter but could not be found on China’s heavily censored social media platforms.
On China’s Twitter-like Weibo, a number of social media users alluded to the incident by commenting on old posts featuring Hu, a common tactic used to evade cyberspace censors.
By Saturday evening, however, the comments section of almost all Weibo posts containing Hu’s name were no longer visible, according to a Reuters review.
State media coverage of the ceremony did not include the scene, which occurred as reporters entered the room.
Hu had appeared somewhat unsteady last Sunday when he was escorted to the same stage for the opening ceremony of the congress.
Trying to consolidate the position
Li and Wang, who had been considered by some party observers as a front-runner to succeed Li as premier, both have ties to the Communist Youth League, a once-influential group that experts say has lost power under Xi.
“Xi Jinping is trying to consolidate the top position, not just that of the general secretary,” said Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor of Chinese studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.
Also on Saturday, the party approved amendments to its constitution aimed at cementing Xi’s core status and the guiding role of his political thinking within the party as its twice-a-decade congress concluded.
The congress concluded on Saturday. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
The new Central Committee will elect the elite Standing Committee of the Politburo on Sunday, with hopes that Xi, 69, will secure a third leadership term.
A third five-year leadership term would cement Xi’s place as China’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong, the founding leader of the People’s Republic.
Among the amendments to the party constitution, the “Two Establishments” define Xi as the party’s “core” leader and cement his ideas as guiding principles for China’s future development. The “Two Safeguards” ensure Xi’s “core” status within the party and the party’s centralized authority over China.
New leadership to be announced
Voting was carried out by a show of hands in the large Saló del Poble, where much of the proceedings of the week’s party congress took place behind closed doors.
The congress concluded with a military band playing The Internationale.
At its first plenary session on Sunday, the party’s new central committee will elect the next Politburo, which normally consists of 25 people, and its new Standing Committee.
The new leadership will be unveiled when Xi, who is expected to be reinstated to China’s top post as party general secretary, enters a press room in the Great Hall, followed by the other Standing Committee members in descending order .