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The Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Party Congress, which begins in Beijing on Sunday, is being carefully stage-managed as a coronation event for dictator Xi Jinping, who will seize a third term in power at the event and write himself into Communist history as the most consequential leader besides Party founder Mao Zedong.
The 358 members of the Central Committee were “fully briefed and prepared” for the pageantry to come at a four-day closed-door meeting, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported Wednesday. Many of these high-ranking Communists were reportedly hearing about Xi’s full plans for the Party Congress for the first time.
In addition to formally confirming Xi’s role as dictator-for-life — which has been perfectly obvious ever since Xi had the national constitution modified four years ago to remove the two-term limit on his position — the Party Congress will also be used to glorify Xi’s achievements and consecrate his “governing philosophy” of “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” as official Communist wisdom.
Most observers expect the Party Congress to very loudly congratulate Xi on handling the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic perfectly, and even more loudly swear their undying allegiance to China’s program of brutal “zero Covid” lockdowns.
Xi will probably also be applauded for crushing the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, which the Communist Party has denounced as treason and foreign collusion. The SCMP quoted Chinese state media reports that Party leaders will be expected to applaud Xi’s “great struggle” against “foreign interference” in Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang province as well as Hong Kong.
