The most important date of China' s packed 2017 political calendar has now been set: Oct. 8. That' s the date state media announced Thursday for
The most important date of China’s packed 2017 political calendar has now been set: Oct. 8. That’s the date state media announced Thursday for the 19th national congress of China’s ruling Communist Party, a key gathering that takes place every five years.
The meeting is expected to induct a new lineup of leaders who will rule the world’s most populous nation for the next five years — and beyond.
There’s not much suspense about one outcome of the congress: President Xi Jinping, 64, who is also the party boss and the head of China’s military, is all but assured of a second five-year term.
Xi has spent his first term consolidating his grip on power to a degree not seen in China for decades. He has packed the power structure with allies and protégés, and knocked out potential rivals through a wide-ranging anti-corruption drive.
Last year, the party acclaimed Xi as the “core” of China’s leadership, and officials since then have been especially busy pledging their fealty to him and studying his speeches and writings.
Endless meetings have emphasized to the party rank and file the importance of “upholding the authority” of the party leadership and refraining from making “improper comments” about party policies.
This month, for example, Xi’s protégé Cai Qi, now party boss of Beijing, exhorted the capital’s officials to venerate Xi’s compiled speeches as “the most important book on your desk, your main reference work, and your source of mottoes.
