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Two Sessions 2023
ChinaPolitics

Xi Jinping starts third term as China’s president with unanimous support

  • Unprecedented third term approved by the national legislature on Friday
  • Reviving economy, Taiwan and rivalry with US among challenges in next five years

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Xi Jinping takes a constitutional oath on Friday. The next five years are seen as a critical time for Xi and the Communist Party leadership. Photo: Xinhua
William Zheng
Xi Jinping began an unprecedented third term as China’s president on Friday after he was endorsed by a unanimous vote from the National People’s Congress (NPC).
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Xi will head a hand-picked Communist Party and government team tasked with steering the world’s second-largest economy through challenges at home and abroad over the next five years.

All 2,952 NPC members who attended Friday’s meeting voted for the president. In all, the legislative body has a membership of 2,977.

Analysts say it will be a critical period for both Xi and China as he needs to put the country back on an economic growth path to convince the world that China’s unique governance and development model works.

He will also have to show that his ambitious political legacy is within reach amid intensified rivalry with the US, the potential for conflict over Taiwan and concerns about the economic impact of China’s rapidly ageing population, they say.
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Xi’s allies will be appointed to key government roles in the remaining two days of the annual legislative session.

As was the case five years ago – when Xi’s previous term was also approved unanimously – the vote by the largely ceremonial legislature was more of a political gesture showing the Chinese political elite’s unequivocal loyalty and deference.

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