Xi Jinping to further strengthen his grip on power

New Delhi: Centralisation of power has been Xi Jinping's top priority at the 20th party congress and the all-powerful leader who is set to enter the third term- the second decade of rule- after beating all his predecessors to it, Xi is now being compared to the founder of the Communist Party of China Mao Zedong who yielded a complete control over the party, national defence and military.

A giveaway of Xi's future role as the all-powerful leader, who may even serve for life- after the ongoing party congress stamps the decision to remove the two five year term limit for the Chinese president- is his speech at the party congress taking place in Beijing from October 19-23.

Xi told the party congress, ''Over the past five years, we have continued to strengthen the overall leadership of the party and the centralised, unified leadership of the central committee. We have devoted great energy to modernizing our national defence and the armed forces. We have conducted major counter-diplomacy with Chinese characteristics on all fronts. And we have made sweeping efforts to advance the great new project of party building.''

The roadmap was clear that Xi was pulling no stops to put national interests first. Safeguarding China's core interests by showing a fighting spirit is a dominant message to the party congress.

Xi said he will take the country forward to fulfil its unification dream. While there has been a focus on reuniting Taiwan, forcefully or peacefully, the second but equally important military goal is to continue the build-up on Indian borders, especially in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, seen by the Chinese as a former Tibetan territory.

With complete control over Hong Kong and a strongly holding of Tibet, the writing is on the wall regarding the future military and foreign policy strategy that will be pursued by Xi in his third term.

Inside the party in the highest decision-making body- the politburo central committee, as well as the topmost military body- the central military commission, Xi's men, will dominate.

While new amendments will formalise Xi Jinping’s status as a “core” of the party leadership,  there can be changes with senior leaders retiring at 68, which is the age limit for the top echelons.

Chinese premier Li Keqiang (67) retires in March, if he retires fully he may get re-elected as chairman of parliament, China’s third-highest office which will allow him to stay in the politburo standing council.

But it may be seen as a demotion, especially after there were indications that he did not follow Xi's vision and was more bent towards economic reforms while Xi was focused on greater state control over financial institutions.

All eyes are also on senior politburo member Wang Yang (67), who is chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a political advisory body. It remains to be seen whether he would be given a chance as PRC Premier.

But there is competition from Hu Chunhua, the vice minister who has served as governor in Tibet, Hebei and Guangdong and was praised by Xi. He could be an entrant of PSC to be groomed to take over as Premier.

The projected PSC is expected to look like this- Xi Jinping,69, general secretary of the CCP; Wang Yang,67, premier of the state council; Li Keqiang,67, chairman of the NPC; Wang Huning,67, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; Zhao Leji,65, executive secretary of the CCP secretariat; Chen Min’er, 62, secretary of the CCP's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection; Hu Chunhua,59, executive vice premier of the State Council.

Meanwhile, the next minister of State Security who is the Chinese Intelligence Chief is expected to be Chen Wenqing and the next minister of Public Security is likely to be Wang Xiaohong.

Given the secrecy around the changes in the decision-making bodies, it is a wait-and-watch for observers around the world as Xi balances policy trajectories, political considerations and military challenges that lie ahead for China.

On the international front, Xi will be more assertive- it is a critical time for Xi as US-China relations are in the doldrums and he is marching towards a military build-up in the South China Sea.