BEIJING
\nXi Jinping on Friday secured a precedent-breaking third five-year term as China\u2019s president as he tightens his grip as the country\u2019s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.
\nNearly 3,000 members of China\u2019s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People\u2019s Congress (NPC), voted unanimously in the Great Hall of the People for Xi, 69, to be president in an election where there was no other candidate.
\nThe voting lasted for about an hour and the electronic counting was completed in about 15 minutes.
\nThe stage was set for another Xi term when he did away with presidential term limits in 2018. His power was already extended last October when he was reconfirmed for another five years as general secretary of the central committee of the ruling Communist Party.
\nOver the next two days, officials approved by Xi are set to be appointed or elected to fill top positions in the cabinet, including premier-in-waiting Li Qiang, who is expected to be named to China\u2019s No.2 post, putting him in charge of managing the world\u2019s second largest economy.
\nXi chatted casually with Li, who was seated to his left, as delegates deposited voting slips into electronic ballot boxes.
\nThe election of state leaders by the parliament comes three months after tough COVID-19 policies were dismantled and a new wave of infections caused by the highly transmissible Omicron strain rippled across the country. Except for dozens of top leaders, all other delegates and staff wore masks.
\nXi will make a speech on Monday before the annual parliamentary session closes, as China faces multiple challenges including an economy hobbled by three years of COVID curbs and worsening relations with the West.
\nEarlier this week, Xi blamed the United States and the West for the difficulties faced by China\u2019s economy, remarks unusual from him for being directly at Washington.
\nWhile the presidential role is largely ceremonial, Xi had already been re-elected by the party to chair its central military commission and has started his third five-year term as the Chinese armed forces commander-in-chief.
\nThe parliament also elected Zhao Leji, 66, as the new parliament chair and Han Zheng, 68, as the new vice president. Both men were from Xi\u2019s previous team of party leaders at the Politburo Standing Committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING Xi Jinping on Friday secured a precedent-breaking third five-year term as China\u2019s president as he tightens his grip as the country\u2019s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. Nearly 3,000 members of China\u2019s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People\u2019s Congress (NPC), voted unanimously in the Great Hall of the People for Xi, 69, to be president […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318773,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-318747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n