BEIJING: Xi Jinping was handed a third term as Chinese president on Friday. The appointment by China’s parliament comes after Xi secured another five years as head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in October.
On Friday, delegates handed Xi a third term as China’s president and re-elected him as head of the country’s Central Military Commission in a unanimous vote.
Beijing’s Great Hall of the People was adorned with crimson carpets and banners for the landmark vote, with a military band providing background music.
A digital monitor on the edge of the stage proclaimed the final tally – all 2,952 votes had been cast in favour of awarding Xi another term in office.
The announcement was followed by fervent declarations of allegiance by delegates to the Chinese constitution in a demonstration of loyalty and unanimity.
Xi held up his right fist and placed his left hand on a red leather copy of China’s constitution.
“I swear to be loyal to the constitution of the People’s Republic of China, to uphold the authority of the constitution, to perform my statutory obligations, to be loyal to the motherland, to be loyal to the people,” he said, promising to fulfil his duties with honesty and hard work.
In the oath – beamed live on state television across the nation – he vowed to “build a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and great modern socialist country”.
Xi’s re-election is the culmination of a remarkable rise in which he has gone from a member of the party to the leader of a rising global power.
His coronation sets him up to become communist China’s longest-serving president, and means Xi could rule well into his seventies – if no challenger emerges.
Adrian Geiges, co-author of “Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World”, told AFP he did not think Xi was motivated by a desire for personal enrichment, despite international media investigations having revealed his family’s amassed wealth.
“That’s not his interest,” Geiges said.
“He really has a vision about China, he wants to see China as the most powerful country in the world.”
The beginning of Xi’s third term comes as the world’s second-largest economy faces major headwinds, from slowing growth and a troubled real estate sector to a declining birth rate.
Relations with the United States are also at a low not seen in decades, with the powers sparring over everything from human rights to trade and technology.
“We will see a China more assertive on the global stage, insisting its narrative be accepted,” Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute, told AFP.
“But it is also one that will focus on domestically making it less dependent on the rest of the world, and making the Communist Party the centrepiece of governance, rather than the Chinese government,” he said.
“It is not a return to the Maoist era, but one that Maoists will feel comfortable in,” Tsang added.
“Not a direction of travel that is good for the rest of the world.”
