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Reuters / Damir Sagolj

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China's Communists before the 14th National People's Congress

People's Republic appoints new government

Growing international tensions, a dramatic real estate bubble and widespread youth unemployment: in this environment, Xi Jinping will be elected President of the People's Republic for a third term at the National People's Congress, which begins in Beijing on 5 March. After his show of force at the 20th Communist Party Congress in October 2022, Xi will now be able to appoint a group of loyal followers to the government of his designated premier, Li Qiang. China's head of state is cementing his power amid current global political challenges and internal crises. Nevertheless, the first session of the 14th People's Congress marks a historic turning point in several respects.

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Head of State Xi Jinping is one of around 3,000 delegates who will gather in the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital on Sunday. The National People's Congress meets once a year and is considered the largest legislative assembly in the world. Since Mao, Xi will be the first Chinese politician to serve more than two terms as president. The National People’s Congress abolished a limit to this effect on 11 March 2018. In addition, the era of collective leadership within the party has ended at least since the Communist Party Congress in October last year.

Under Xi, there is an interesting change in the power structures. He systematically breaks down the separation between state and party. To this end, he founded a network of small leadership groups and central commissions in the Communist Party, which are dedicated to different policy fields, such as economic or climate policy. Xi personally chairs most of these commissions, thus breaking or undermining the formal separation between state and party that also exists in China. Whether these parallel power structures within the Communist Party will be expanded remains to be seen.

The full-length publication is only available in German.

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