Xi Jinping, one step away from consolidating his power at a challenging time for China

The National Congress will serve to decide the future of the country's prime minister, who has already announced his retirement

MADRID, 15 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

China is heading this Sunday to the biggest event of its domestic policy; the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party, a historic event that will introduce changes at the top of the Government and allow the president of the Asian giant, Xi Jinping, to win a third term and consolidate his power in uncertain times for Beijing.

The one who has already been considered one of the most powerful Chinese leaders in decades will thus kick off a congress that arrives at a challenging moment, with a China that clings to its strict health policy to deal with the coronavirus and a geopolitical position regarding Russia that distances it from the West.

However, and with the approval of the party leadership, everything indicates that Xi will renew his mandate and will not pass the baton to a possible successor, as has been common in the past when the head of state served a decade in power. .

The National Congress, the meeting that outlines the guidelines for the next five years of political, social, economic and cultural life in the country, takes place every five years and lasts approximately one week.

Generally held in October or November, it is attended by some 2,300 delegates previously chosen by party members and from all corners of the country, of which only about a quarter are women, while 11 percent are part of the party. of ethnic minorities.

There are three rings of power in this hierarchy: some 400 delegates are also members of the elite Central Committee, which in turn includes the 25 members of the Politburo, the decision-making body of the top leaders, and its Standing Committee, which is usually be formed by a number that ranges between five and nine high positions. Members of the Politburo are usually ethnic Han, the majority in China.

Although Xi is expected to be reappointed general secretary of the party, for practical purposes his third term as head of state will not be revalidated until the election is formalized next March.

This year's Congress presents another peculiarity. It will decide the future of the country's prime minister, Li Keqiang, who has already announced his retirement but will also have to wait until March to definitively leave his post.

However, there are already speculations about the succession, with a list that includes names such as the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Wang Yang, 67, or Vice Prime Minister Hu Chunhua, 59. .

The Chinese capital has already begun to increase its security device and has reinforced measures against the coronavirus in the face of the political appointment, an event that will take place behind closed doors in the Great Hall of the People, which is located in the square of Tiananmen.

The opacity of Chinese politics has sparked speculation about who will be chosen for top government posts, though few expect big changes.

After the vote, considered by many a mere formality, the newly formed Central Committee meets in what will be its first plenary session, in which they will elect the members of the Politburo and the Standing Committee.

Xi is thus heading towards the consolidation of his power in the face of a "complex environment at the international level" and with "numerous internal challenges", as some members of the party leadership have noted, highlighting the "unusual and extraordinary" achievements of a politician whose rising career initially surprised delegates and members of what is the largest political organization in the world.