2952 votes in favour. And zero against. Xi Jinping wins historic third term as President of the People’s Republic of China with a unanimous vote. Amid thunderous applause from the delegates of the National People’s Congress meeting in its third plenary session as part of the “two sessions”, Xi was also confirmed as the leader of the Central Military Commission. From the Great Hall of the People, overlooking Tiananmen Square in Beijing, therefore emerges a leader who for the first time since the days of Mao Zedong holds all the top positions for the third time in a row: general secretary of the Communist Party (the main position, obtained during the XX Congress last October), President of the Republic and President of the Military Commission. Also elected vice president: to succeed Wang Qishan will be Han Zheng, once considered a member of the so-called “Shanghai clique”, the faction led by former general secretary Jiang Zemin.
The outcome was obvious and had already been anticipated five years ago with the removal of the constraint of two mandates. But even more by the way in which Xi had emerged from the last Congress, at the end of which he managed to build a standing committee (the apical body of the Party made up of 7 members) wholly loyal to him. A trend that continues even during the “two sessions”. Trusted anti-corruption czar Zhao Leji, former head of the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection, was appointed chairman of the National People’s Congress. Tomorrow Li Qiang, who was Xi’s former chief of staff during his days as governor of Zhejiang province, will be promoted to prime minister. Other loyalists such as He Lifeng are destined for further appointments, including within the new government agencies that will further centralize the functioning of the state apparatus. The reform that creates new central commissions for data management, financial policies, science and technology policies has been approved.
In his third mandate, Xi thus obtains a rationalization of management processes and above all a system that allows him to make decisions more quickly. In this sense he should also read the amendment on the creation of a “fast track” for the lightning-fast approval of laws in “times of emergency”.
On the domestic front, efforts will be made to achieve “stability” starting from the economic situation, trying to plug the possible problems related to health care and pensions that are emerging from the cash difficulties of local governments. The first urgency will be that of the difficult achievement of technological self-sufficiency, in response to the growing restrictions on semiconductors approved by the United States.
On the external front, the most delicate dossier concerns the Taiwan Strait and the strong tensions in this regard with Washington. Xi’s change of perspective, glimpsed during his speech before the People’s Political Consultative Conference, with respect to Deng Xiaoping’s famous mantra “hide your strength” is significant. “Let’s keep calm and determination, progress with stability, proactively achieve goals, stand united and dare to fight.” The “twenty years of strategic opportunities” prophesied by Jiang Zemin in 2002 has officially ended. As Xi repeated several times, now is the time for “unprecedented challenges” and “stormy waters”. To navigate them, China has given Xi a faster car, or ship.