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CPC leaders begin top meet to boost Xi’s power


Published : 08 Nov 2021 10:07 PM | Updated : 10 Nov 2021 08:57 AM

The top leaders of China's ruling Communist Party on Monday started a pivotal meeting expected to further firm President Xi Jinping's grip on power.

Some 400 members of the party's powerful Central Committee gathered in Beijing for the four-day plenary.

State news agency Xinhua said Xi opened the meeting with a work report and "explanations on a draft resolution on the major achievements and historical experience" for the party through its 100-year history.

The resolution will set the stage for the 20th Party Congress next year, at which Xi is widely expected to declare that he will serve a third term in office, cementing his position as China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.

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State media has hailed Xi's leadership in the run-up to this week's meeting, with Xinhua declaring he is "a man of profound thoughts and feelings, a man who inherited a legacy but dares to innovate, and a man who has forward-looking vision and is committed to working tirelessly".

Widely regarded as China's most powerful leader since Mao, Xi's tenure has been marked by a sprawling anti-corruption crackdown and an increasingly assertive approach to foreign relations.

Xi recently launched a campaign of "common prosperity", designed to tackle wealth inequality and tighten oversight of home-grown business giants.

The Central Committee resolution would mark the third of its kind in the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The timing is significant, coming a year before Xi is expected to secure an unprecedented third term in office at a twice-a-decade congress.

Having scrapped term limits in a 2018 constitutional amendment, Xi has not appointed a clear successor and is expected to lead until at least 2027.

Steering the post-pandemic economy as well as the question of Taiwan could also be on the meeting agenda this week.

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