China. One head behind Xi Jinping

Xi Jinping can be reassured. Everything went as planned. On the red platform, the seven new members of the standing committee of the political bureau of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), presented this October 23, at the end of the 20th Congress, are “familiar figures”. This is the case of Li Qiang, general secretary of the party in Shanghai, responsible for the endless confinement of the city and probable prime minister, Zhao Leji, head of the fight against corruption and discipline, and Wang Huning, in charge of ideology. Moderates Li Keqiang (ex-prime minister) and Wang Yang (ex-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference) were dismissed.

A scene also made a lot of noise on Saturday, during the closing of the Congress. It took place at the People’s Palace while the media have just taken their place in the monumental hall. Former President Hu Jintao (2003-2013) was prompted to rise from his seat next to Xi Jinping. Aged 79, he exchanges a word with the president before being escorted out, visibly troubled. The Xinhua agency reports that Hu Jintao « didn’t feel well » but the image coincides with the sidelining of his foal, the outgoing Prime Minister, considered a moderate.

Increased economic openness

Unsurprisingly, thanks to the abolition of the two-term limit in 2018, Xi Jinping was able to be reappointed for a third five-year mission. The leader is reinforced in his role as well as those of general secretary of the CPC central committee, chairman of the central military commission of the state and the military commission of the CPC. His thinking is also incorporated into the party statutes.

Faced with a slowing economy, Xi Jinping pleaded for greater openness. “Withdrawal leads to regression”, he said. Vital to the pursuit of slowing new Silk Roads, strategy is no longer content to bet on outward projection. It could now include foreign investment in the national territory and a relaxation of the drastic rules for accessing the market. Outside companies could have their patents protected. A sine qua non condition as the US trade war and the battle to contain China’s supremacy are even rallying Germany, which had made China its first economic partner. China might also be confident enough to develop its own technologies. The country continues to assert itself.