The Communist Party of China opens its congress to re-elect Xi Jinping

First modification: 10/16/2022 – 08:06

If all goes as planned, the 69-year-old should be ratified as CCP general secretary within a week, a prelude to his re-election next year as China’s president, and cement himself as the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.

The congress comes “at a critical moment when the entire party and the people of all ethnic groups embark on a new journey to build a modernized socialist country,” Xi told nearly 2,300 delegates gathered at the Great Hall of the People. from Peking.

Applauded upon arrival at the venue and upon taking the rostrum, Xi offered a speech of more than an hour in which he praised his management of the pandemic, with a restrictive “zero covid” policy still in force despite its economic impact. He also defended his handling of two very sensitive issues for Beijing: the pro-democracy protests and subsequent crackdown in Hong Kong, which in his view went “from chaos to governance,” and tensions over Taiwan.

Xi denounced the interference of “external forces” in this island with an autonomous government and warned that China “will never give up the use of force” to reunify it. “We will try to pursue the prospect of peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and efforts, but we will never commit ourselves to abandoning the use of force,” he assured.

– “Zero covid” –

The five-year conclave opened at 10:00 local time (02:00 GMT) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, surrounded by a large security device since dawn. The congress will run in a strict “zero covid” protocol, with daily tests for the participants, who had to be confined for two days before. The maintenance or not of this policy was precisely one of the questions that surrounded the conclave in the face of the daily havoc and the economic problems caused. However, Xi strongly defended this strategy, which he said put “the people and their lives first.”

China has “protected safety and health at the highest level and achieved outstanding positive results by coordinating epidemic control and prevention with economic and social development,” he said. The quasi-isolation that China imposes on itself from the rest of the world and the repeated confinements have stifled the growth of its economy, which this year may be the weakest in four decades with the exception of 2020.

Although the official press repeated this week that “loosening up” in the face of the virus would be “irresponsible”, fatigue is beginning to take its toll on some sectors. This week this unease surfaced with a rare protest in the capital, in which a man hung two critical banners on a bridge. In one he called for the overthrow of “traitor dictator Xi Jinping.”

– Anti-corruption campaign –

In his speech, Xi also praised his anti-corruption campaign, seen by some critics as a tool to eliminate internal rivals and consolidate his power. “The fight against corruption achieved a landslide victory and was comprehensively consolidated, eliminating serious latent danger within the party, the state and the army,” he said.

According to official figures, at least 1.5 million people were sanctioned for this campaign launched by Xi when he came to power in 2012. Although his speech was mainly focused on domestic politics, Xi stated that China “is totally opposed to any form of hegemony” and “opposes the cold war mentality”. He made no mention of tensions with the United States or the war in Ukraine.

And facing the next term, the president of one of the most polluting countries on the planet promised to “actively promote” the fight against climate change. In this highly choreographed conclave, held largely behind closed doors, the 2,296 participants will also name the around 200 members of the Central Committee.

These members, in turn, will designate the 25 members of the Political Bureau and those who will make up the powerful Permanent Committee, the country’s highest decision-making body. The result of the congress should be known on October 23, one day after the closing, although the decisions are already agreed in advance by the different factions of the party.

with AFP