China’s Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third leadership term on Sunday and introduced a new Politburo Standing Committee stacked with loyalists, cementing his place as the country’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong.
Introducing the leadership, Xi said, “we will not be daunted by high winds, choppy waters or dangerous storms.” The CPC, he said, “can only become invincible if it remains committed to self-reform”.
“The world is grappling with unprecedented challenges,” he said. "Just as China cannot develop in isolation from the world, the world needs China for its development,” he added, noting that the Chinese economy, which grew only 0.4% in the second quarter, has been weighed down by COVID lockdowns, and presents Xi his biggest domestic challenge, still had “great resilience”.