CHINA’S COMMUNIST PARTY has opened its national congress, at which Hu Jintao will pave the way for Xi Jinping – the man who visited Ireland earlier this year – to take charge of the country.
The Congress will see the once-in-a-decade handover of top leadership positions within the party, which is by far the most significant political force in the country.
Hu opened the congress with a speech warning of the dangers of corruption within the party and the country, commenting that the practice posed a “serious challenge”.
“If we fail to handle this issue well, it could prove fatal to the party, and even cause the collapse of the party and the fall of the state,” the BBC quotes him as saying.
The comments are seen as a further nod to the likelihood that the 59-year-0ld Xi will this week become the general secretary of the party; Xi has been a vocal opponent of corruption within the Communist Party.
Xi, 59, has been Hu’s second-in-command since 2008 and – assuming he is, as expected, named the General Secretary of the party at this week’s congress – will then be put forward to become the new President when the national parliament meets next March.
The parliament – the National People’s Congress – meets for two weeks every March, and will formally elect the new president when Hu’s ten-year term of office lapses in March. The Congress, with almost 3,000 members, has only two parties: the Communists and their sister party, the United Front.
Xi will face a challenging tenure – taking command of an ageing population where the gap between rich and poor is continually growing, and while the country’s rampant economic growth begins to slow down.
As FirstPost summarises, a total of 2,268 delegates from across China are attending the week-long party event in Beijing. The event only takes place once every five years.
The high number of attendees is an attempt to show that the congress is representative of the party’s national membership, but the selection of delegates is centrally controlled which means the party leadership still has broad power.
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