Xi displays “core leader” status as he kicks off second term

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ Chinese President Xi Jinping has begun his second five-year term by firmly displaying his “core leader” status, which equates him with founder of modern China Chairman Mao Zedong, putting himself ahead of other six top leaders for the first time in public.

Xi, 64, along with other six members of the Politburo Standing Committee, which reflects the collective leadership of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) since it was introduced in 1981, stood ahead of others yesterday when they made their high-profile visit to the birthplace of the party instead of standing along with them, a practice that was followed for long.

The once-in-a-five-year Congress of the CPC which concluded on October 24 elected the seven member Standing Committee which virtually rules the country. The Congress endorsed a second term for Xi, regarded as the most powerful leader of China in recent years, and Premier Li Keqiang, 62 and elected new five members who represented different factions within the party, which is run on collective leadership principle.