Chinese President Xi Jinping looks on after casting his vote during the Third Plenary Session of the National People鈥檚 Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China, 10 March 2023. MARK R. CRISTINO/Pool via REUTERS
BEIJING 鈥� Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third five-year presidential term on Friday during a parliamentary session in which he further tightened his control as China faces mounting challenges at home and globally.
Nearly 3,000 members of China鈥檚 rubber-stamp parliament, the National People鈥檚 Congress (NPC), voted unanimously in the Great Hall of the People for the 69-year-old Xi in an election where there was no other candidate.
Xi, who has taken China in a more authoritarian direction since assuming control a decade ago, extends his tenure amid increasingly adversarial relations with the Washington and West over Taiwan, Beijing鈥檚 backing of Russia, trade and human rights.
Domestically, the world鈥檚 second-largest economy faces a challenging recovery from three years of Xi鈥檚 zero-COVID policy, fragile confidence among consumers and businesses and weak global demand for Chinese exports.
China鈥檚 economy grew just 3% last year, among its worst performances in decades, and during parliament Beijing set a modest growth target for this year of just around 5%.
鈥淚n his third term, Xi will need to focus on economic revival,鈥� said Willy Lam, senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a US think tank. 鈥淏ut if he continues with what he has been doing 鈥� tighter party and state control over the private sector and confrontation with the West, his prospects for success won鈥檛 be encouraging.鈥�
Xi set the stage for another term when he did away with presidential term limits in 2018, and has become China鈥檚 most powerful leader since Mao Zedong, who founded the People鈥檚 Republic.
China鈥檚 presidency is largely ceremonial, and Xi鈥檚 main position of power was extended last October when he was reconfirmed for five more years as general secretary of the central committee of the Communist Party.
New leadership slate
During Friday鈥檚 voting, Xi chatted casually with premier-in-waiting Li Qiang, who was seated to his left and is poised to be confirmed on Saturday to China鈥檚 No. 2 position, a role that puts the former Shanghai party chief and close Xi ally in charge of managing the economy.
Other Xi-approved officials will also be elected or appointed to key government posts during the upcoming weekend, including vice premiers, a central bank governor and numerous other ministers and department heads.
The annual parliamentary session, the first since China dropped three years of COVID restrictions, will end on Monday, when Xi will give a speech that will be followed by a media question-and-answer session by Li.
During Friday鈥檚 session, Xi and dozens of other top leaders on-stage did not wear masks but all others in the vast auditorium did.
China abruptly ended zero-COVID in December after highly unusual nationwide protests against the policy. A subsequent wave infected most of China鈥檚 1.4 billion people, but China has not released a full tally of related deaths.
The parliament on Friday also elected Zhao Leji, 66, as the new parliament chair and Han Zheng, 68, as the new vice president. Both men were from Xi鈥檚 previous team of party leaders at the Politburo Standing Committee.