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

Chinese President Xi Jinping defended his policy to fight Covid-19 and his anti-corruption campaign on Sunday at the opening of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (PCC), in which he must receive a historic third term in power.

If everything goes as planned, the 69-year-old leader must be ratified in a week as secretary general of the Communist Party of Chinaa prelude to his re-election next year as China’s president, and establishing 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,” he said. Xi Jinping before the almost 2,300 delegates gathered in the Great Hall of the People of Beijing.

Applauded upon arrival at the venue and upon taking the rostrum, Xi Jinping gave a speech of more than an hour in which he praised his management of the pandemic, with a restrictive policy of “zero covid” 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 repression in Hong Kong, which in his opinion went “from chaos to governance,” and the tensions over Taiwan.

Xi Jinping 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 seek the prospect of peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and the greatest efforts, but we will never commit ourselves to abandoning the use of force,” he assured.

“Zero Covid”

The five-yearly conclave opened at 10:00 local time 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.

Nevertheless, Xi Jinping He strongly defended this strategy, which, he said, put “the population 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 Jinping also praised his campaign anti-corruptionconsidered by some critics as a tool to eliminate internal rivals and consolidate their 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 by this campaign launched by Xi when he came to power in 2012.

Although his speech was mainly focused on domestic politics, Xi Jinping I affirm that China “it is totally opposed to any form of hegemony” and “it opposes the cold war mentality”. She 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.

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