While the war in Ukraine is inevitably dominating international politics presently, China’s big event in 2022 is the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress. The assumption is that General Secretary Xi Jinping will be re-elected for a third term. However, significant institutional reforms and explanations will be required if Xi is to be given a third term.

At the Communist Party of China Guangxi regional meeting on 22nd April, President Xi Jinping, who is likely to earn a historic third term as China’s leader in a leadership change later this year, was unanimously chosen as a delegate to the ruling party’s 20th national congress.

CPC leaders are effectively chosen in China, and Xi’s appointment as a delegate was more like a formality. The official news agency Xinhua said in a report on 22nd April evening. “The announcement of Xi’s unanimous election won a burst of sustained and warm applause at the regional congress on Friday morning,” the report stated.

In April 2017, Xi was chosen as a delegate to the CPC’s 19th National Conference by a unanimous majority at the 12th CPC Guizhou provincial congress. Thereafter, Xi’s selection of Guangxi as a delegate is important, as Guangxi was one of China’s poorest regions until 2017. In November 2020, the area, which has the country’s biggest ethnic minority population, moved all 54 of its poverty-stricken counties out of poverty. The regional administration stated in November 2020 that the region’s final eight destitute counties, including six ethnic minority independent counties, have abolished absolute poverty. Guangxi has become a symbol of China’s effective poverty eradication program, which has pulled millions of people out of poverty in recent decades.

Central Committee, the party’s top governing body delegates will go to vote, during the congress, which is held every five years for the party’s elite. The committee’s 200 or more members will vote on who will be seated on the Politburo and its Standing Committee, the Communist Party’s highest decision-making body. Xinhua said that Xi’s election as a congress delegate reflects the shared vision and great desire of hundreds of millions of people to accompany the leaders of the great rejuvenation and build a better future, as per the Guangxi party members.

Xi’s election as a congress delegate, was a symbolic step toward obtaining a third term as the party’s general secretary, according to Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, “This may not mean that his election as the general secretary is 100 per cent certain, but it is a very firm step,” he said.

Earlier, Hu Jintao was also chosen as a representative to the 18th National Congress in 2012 when he handed over the baton to Xi. On 22nd April, two new provincial party secretaries were also revealed. Wang Xiaohui, 60, executive vice-director of the Communist Party’s media department, succeeded Peng Qinghua as the new party leader of Sichuan province in the country’s southwest, and Ni Yuefeng, 58, the director of the General Administration of Customs, has been named the new party chairman of Hebei province in the north, succeeding Wang Dongfeng. Peng, now 65 years old, was the head of the Hong Kong liaison office before taking over as governor of Sichuan in 2018. Wang Dongfeng, the departing party chief in  Hebei, will not be awarded a new job, according to the announcement.

Sichuan and Hebei are considered important provinces in China because of their size and location significance, Hebei is adjacent to Beijing, while Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, and Chongqing, a neighbouring municipality, are two of China’s most populated cities. Following Meng Fanli’s selection as Shenzhen’s new party chairman on Tuesday, Meng, who is 56 years old, is likewise seen as a rising talent as two new party secretaries were announced.

Xi’s proteges make up the majority of the 25 members of the CCP’s Standing Committee of the Political Bureau. As a result, a political battle over personnel issues at the party’s core is quite improbable. While there has been speculation of pushback from former Premier Zhu Rongji and his allies, their impact will remain limited. Regardless, Xi is obligated by the party’s laws, which will necessitate some answers. Moreover, the Xi administration has made several modifications to the party’s statutes, as well as significant personnel changes. The majority of the newly appointed province leaders are no longer members of the Political Bureau’s Standing Committee.

While the personnel system and the employees themselves have changed, the majority of the Xi administration’s roster will stay unchanged in 2022. When it comes to proteges, though, the boundaries have been reached. Xi’s stock of subordinates from his time in the provinces is nearly depleted. Given the increased difficulty of picking proteges in the future, a new framework for personnel selection, including the nomination of a successor, is required. In this sense, Xi’s personnel appointments in the fall of 2022 are a transition moment. A new system will be implemented, as well as new employees. Only after that, Xi’s successor and the Chinese Communist Party’s new leadership structure will materialize. (POREG)

— By a Poreg Commentator

Footnotes:
1. https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/xi-jinping-set-to-secure-unprecedented-third-term-as-china-s-leader-101650633317417-amp.html
2. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3175251/xi-jinping-moves-step-closer-third-term-communist-party-boss
3. https://thediplomat.com/2022/04/ccp-regulations-and-xi-jinpings-bid-for-a-third-term/