Xi Jinping wins a third term as President of the People’s Republic of China

First modification: 03/10/2023 – 09:58

With our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde, and AFP.

2,952 votes were counted, and Xi Jinping was re-elected unanimously by those present, reports our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde. Without opposition, without abstentions and with long applause. After 10 years in office, the Chinese leader has eliminated his rivals. The vote, which ratified a decision of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China last October, has strong political significance.

The last part of the parliamentary session on Friday morning was broadcast on China Central Television. It shows a red elite united around the head of state. The same can be said of the leadership of the National Central Military Commission; Here, too, there was no chill in the ranks: 2,952 votes and applause again for the appointment of Xi Jinping as head of the Army.

Wearing white, blue and khaki caps, a dozen officers from the three corps of the People’s Liberation Army came down to the podium carrying the red book of the Chinese Constitution. The symbol is supposed to recall the importance of the Constitution after it was revised five years ago to remove the limit on the exercise of presidential power and open up the possibility of a lifetime presidency.

International relations

Opposition has been quashed and regime hagiographers are celebrating in the official media the return to the golden age of the Song dynasty, when there were no term limits for emperors.

The head of state took the podium, hand on the Constitution: “I swear to be faithful to the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, uphold its authority, fulfill my statutory duties, be faithful to my country and the people, perform my duties as conscience, be honest and accept people’s control and strive for the construction of a modern, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful socialist state,” said Xi Jinping, who regularly poses as the great helmsman willing to steer the Chinese ship through the “raging sea” of international relations.

Its challenges at the head of the world’s second largest economy continue to be numerous, including slowing growth, falling birth rates, difficulties in the real estate sector and the need to improve China’s international image. Relations with the United States are at their lowest point in decades, with numerous disputes ranging from Taiwan to the treatment of Uyghur Muslims to rivalry over technology.

Xi Jinping this week condemned the “policy of containment, encirclement and repression against China” applied by “the Western countries led by the United States”, which “has led to unprecedented challenges for the development” of the country.

powerful leader

Xi Jinping’s re-election as head of state caps a remarkable political progression in which he has risen from little-known political leader to China’s most powerful leader in a long time.

For decades, the People’s Republic of China, marked by political chaos and personality cult during the reign (1949-1976) of its leader and founder Mao Tse-tung, had promoted more collegial governance at the top. At 70, the re-elected president could even extend his term for another five years if no credible successor emerges in the meantime.