In the early stages of his historic third term, Chinese President Xi Jinping seems to be delegating more power to his handpicked lieutenants and making fewer public appearances at high-level meetings.
The leader’s involvement in Chinese politics is shown in the fact that meetings are the primary venue for him to convey particular aims and policy issues.
Since the conclusion of the Communist Party’s 20th national conference in October, which marked the beginning of his third five-year tenure as party leader, Xi has presided over 38 domestic sessions, according to publicly accessible statistics.
The number was lower than the 59 he presided over five years before and the 50 he personally supervised at the beginning of his first term after succeeding Hu Jintao.
Covid-19 may have had a role, but following March’s “two sessions,” the yearly parliamentary assembly, during which he put loyalists in all major government posts, all zero-Covid restrictions were abandoned.
There have been 19 domestic meetings under Xi’s leadership since then. Five years ago, he presided over 26 meetings, and ten years ago, he presided over 22.
He Weidong, a member of the Politburo and the vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, was entrusted by Xi to preside over a July gathering of military party officials for two days. In 2018, Xi also appeared at this meeting in person.
Instead, Xi held a reception for Henry Kissinger, a former secretary of state for the United States. The Post was informed by reliable sources that Beijing determined Kissinger’s schedule in China and that Xi could have easily avoided the overlap by participating in the military conference.