Gaining Unanimous Support From Parliament, Xi Jinping Secures the Third Term of China's President

Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Source: China.org/Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

JAKARTA - Chinese leader Xi Jinping made history by returning to serve as the country's president for the third time in a parliamentary session Friday.

Nearly 3,000 members of China's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), voted unanimously in the Great Hall of the People for 69-year-old Xi, in an election where there were no other candidates.

During Friday's vote, Xi chatted casually with prime ministerial nominee Li Qiang, who sits to his left and is poised to be endorsed Saturday for China's number two position, a role that puts the former Shanghai party chief and close Xi ally in charge of governing the economy. .

Besides Xi, the parliament on Friday also elected Zhao Leji as the new speaker of parliament and Han Zheng as the new vice president. Both belong to President Xi's circle in the party's Politburo Standing Committee.

Other officials Xi has approved will also be selected or appointed to key government posts over the coming weekend, including deputy prime ministers, central bank governors, and many other ministers and department heads.

During Friday's session, Xi and dozens of other top leaders on stage did not wear masks, but everyone in the vast auditorium did.

It is known that Xi removed presidential term limits in 2018. He has become the most powerful leader in China since Mao Zedong, who founded the People's Republic of China.

In truth, the position of the Chinese President is largely ceremonial. Xi's main power position is General Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee which was extended last October, when he was reinstated for another five-year term.

Xi, who has steered China in a more authoritarian direction since taking control a decade ago, is extending his term amid increasingly hostile relations with Washington and the West over Taiwan, Beijing's support of Russia, trade and human rights.

Domestically, the world's second-largest economy faces a challenging recovery from three years of zero-COVID policies, fragile confidence among consumers and businesses to subdued global demand for Chinese exports.

China's economy grew only 3 percent last year, among its worst performances in decades. This year, parliament has set a growth target of around 5 percent.

"In his third term, Xi needs to focus on economic revival," said Willy Lam, senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a US think tank, as quoted by Reuters March 10.

"But if he continues what he has done, stricter party and state control over the private sector and confrontation with the West, his prospects for success will not be encouraging."