World News

Chinese President Xi Jinping Embarks on a Second Five-Year Term

Chinese President Xi Jinping waves while addressing the media as he introduced new members of the Politburo. – Photo Ng Han Guan

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BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday unveiled the new lineup of the ruling Communist Party highest body, whose members will rule alongside him as he embarks on a second five-year term as party leader with an agenda to spread prosperity and expand the global influence of the world’s second largest economy.

As expected, Xi was given a renewed mandate following the first meeting Wednesday of the new Central Committee that was elected at the party’s twice-a-decade national congress.

The party had already elevated Xi’s status on Tuesday at its closing session by inserting his name and dogma into the party’s constitution alongside past leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, cementing his status as the most powerful man to head the country in decades.

Xi, front row centre, stands with his cadres during the closing ceremony of the 19th Party Congress.. – Photo Andy Wong

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That move effectively makes any act of opposing him tantamount to an attack on the party itself, largely insulating him from competition among the party’s rival factions.

Xi said his return as general secretary constituted “not just approval of my work but also encouragement that will spur me on.”

“In this new context, we must get a new look and more importantly, make new accomplishments,” he said in comments to reporters at a brief ceremony at the Great Hall of the People to introduce the new seven-strong Politburo Standing Committee, five of whose members were newly appointed on Wednesday.

Striking a Balance

The only other returning member was Premier Li Keqiang, the party’s second-ranking official primarily responsible for overseeing the economy and leading the Cabinet. Li’s authority was widely viewed as having been undercut by Xi’s accumulation of power over all sectors of government, although his continuing presence on the committee appears to speak to the high-regard in which he is held within the party.

The makeup of the committee reflects Xi’s efforts to foster party unity by striking a balance between different interest groups in the 89-million member organization as he seeks to better position a reinvigorated party to dominate China’s affairs at home and abroad.

Zhao is expected to head the much-feared corruption watchdog body. – Photo Jason Lee

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They will assume responsibility for running the rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress and its advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and assume a range of portfolios, including those responsible for propaganda, party discipline, ethnic and Taiwan affairs and science and technology.

The other members are, in order of seniority: Li Zhanshu, director of the party’s General Office who serves as Xi’s chief of staff; Vice Premier Wang Yang; Wang Huning, director of the party’s Central Policy Research Office; Zhao Leji, head of the Central Organization Department responsible for job assignments; and Shanghai party leader Han Zheng, a veteran manager of the country’s financial hub.

Zhao is expected to head the much-feared corruption watchdog body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Anti-Corruption Campaign

Xi has made his wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign the hallmark of his first five years in office. While popular among ordinary Chinese, it is seen as part of a drive to purge his rivals and political opponents and boost supervision over the party at all levels.

Alongside the campaign, Xi has overseen one of the harshest crackdowns on civil society aimed at squelching dissent and activism among lawyers and rights advocates.

The new leaders will face challenges that include reining burgeoning levels of debt seen as the biggest threat to economic stability and managing trade tensions with Washington and Europe over China’s excess production of steel and other goods.

They will also have to tackle the risk of war over neighboring ally North Korea’s nuclear program, manage the crucial relationship with the U.S. and navigate delicate ties with Southeast Asian nations wary of Beijing’s expansion in the disputed South China Sea.

China’s new leaders will have to tackle the risk of war over neighbouring ally North Korea’s nuclear program. – Photo Jacky Chen

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Xi has outlined his vision of strengthening the party’s role in Chinese life and shepherding China’s rise to prominence at a time when the United States and others in the West are seen to be in retreat.

Xi, the son of a Communist elder, has described his political ideology as central to setting China on the path to becoming a “great modern socialist country” by midcentury. This vision has at its core a ruling party that serves as the vanguard for everything from defending national security to providing moral guidance to ordinary Chinese.

“No one doubts Xi bestrides the landscape like a colossus. Organized or even unorganized resistance is inconceivable,” said Jeremy Paltiel, a China expert at Canada’s Carleton University.

The inclusion of politicians from factions associated with Xi’s predecessors Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin in the Politburo Standing Committee pointed to the party’s efforts to assuage concerns that Xi has been centralizing too much authority under him alone, analysts said.

A protester is detained by policemen near a Beijing court in January 2014.. – Photo Kim Kyung-Hoon

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“It signals balance and offers some relief to those who thought Xi will seek to place just his own loyal followers in key positions,” said Dali Yang, a China politics expert at the University of Chicago. “Instead this suggests that the different factions are united in facing the future.”

Among the five new members, only Zhao and Li Zhanshu are seen to be Xi’s proteges.

“What this shows is that these are not all the president’s men,” said Cheng Li, an expert in elite Chinese politics at the Brookings Institution. “This group is more like a team of rivals.”

“It will be well-received by the political establishment because it’s a sign that the members come from various representations,” Li said.
Longer-term ambitions

At the same time, observers note, none of the new members of the top ruling body appeared to be suitable successors to Xi as party leader. In contrast, before Xi took power in 2012, he had been in the Standing Committee for five years and Xi’s predecessor Hu had a seat on the body for 10 years before becoming party leader.

Joseph Fewsmith, an expert on Chinese politics at Boston University, said the absence of an obvious successor pointed to Xi’s longer-term ambitions.

“It suggests that Xi will likely serve a third term, and that he is likely to name his own successor. We have not seen that for two decades,” Fewsmith said.

Under recent party precedent, party leaders have served just two five-year terms.

Some analysts speculated that Xi had successfully avoided being undermined by an anointed successor — and possibly paved the way for him to extend his rule as party leader beyond his second term.

“A successor in the shadow of a powerful leader can be a dangerous position to be in,” said Chicago’s Yang. “With the current setup, it doesn’t rule out Xi’s retirement in five years, though it does provide more room for him to continue.”

A TV screen shows a live news broadcast of Xi introducing his Politburo Standing Committee. – Photo Aly Song

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Others saw the absence of a successor as a compromise made by Xi, who has been seen as favouring Chongqing party secretary Chen Min’er — an official who would have had to break party norms on promotions in order to gain a place on the Standing Committee.

“Chen Min’er is such a clear protege of Xi Jinping,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London. “This shows that what remains of the resistance (to Xi) is still able to exercise some element of horse-trading constraint on Xi Jinping.”

And despite his unrivaled dominion over the party, Xi will likely struggle to continue making it relevant to a Chinese society that has grown “bigger, more diverse and more autonomous,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, an expert on Chinese politics at Hong Kong Baptist University.

“The civil society per se is under stricter control but so much is happening in China. Basically, the society, particularly the youth are turning their back from the party and politics. They enjoy life and don’t care about the congress or Xi,” Cabestan said.

The Associated Press

World News

Marine Le Pen’s National Rally Wins the First Round in France 2024 Election

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party scored historic gains in France

Exit polls in France showed that Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally (RN) party made huge gains to win the first round of election on Sunday. However, the final outcome will depend on how people trade votes in the days before next week’s run-off.

Exit polls from Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay, and Elabe showed that the RN got about 34% of the vote. This was a big loss for President Emmanuel Macron, who called the early election after his party lost badly in the European Parliament elections earlier this month.

The National Rally (RN) easily won more votes than its opponents on the left and center, including Macron’s Together group, whose bloc was predicted to get 20.5% to 23% of the vote. Exit polls showed that the New Popular Front (NFP), a hastily put together left-wing alliance, would get about 29% of the vote.

The results of the exit polls matched what people said in polls before the election, which made Le Pen’s fans very happy. But they didn’t say for sure if the anti-immigrant, anti-EU National Rally (RN) will be able to “cohabit” with the pro-EU Macron in a government after the runoff election next Sunday.

Voters in France Angry at Macron

Many French people have looked down on the National Rally (RN) for a long time, but now it is closer to power than it has ever been. A party known for racism and antisemitism has tried to clean up its image, and it has worked. Voters are angry at Macron, the high cost of living, and rising concerns about immigration.

Fans of Marine Le Pen waved French flags and sang the Marseillaise in the northern French district of Henin-Beaumont. The crowd cheered as Le Pen said, “The French have shown they are ready to turn the page on a power that is disrespectful and destructive.”

The National Rally’s chances of taking power next week will rest on what political deals its opponents make in the next few days. Right-wing and left-wing parties used to work together to keep the National Rally (RN) out of power, but the “republican front,” which refers to this group, is less stable than ever.

If no candidate gets 50% of the vote in the first round, the top two candidates and anyone else with 12.5% of the registered voters immediately move on to the second round. The district goes to the person who gets the most votes in the runoff.

France is likely to have a record number of three-way runoffs because so many people voted on Sunday. Experts say that these are much better for the National Rally (RN) than two-way games. Almost right away on Sunday night, the horse trade began.

Macron asked people to support candidates who are “clearly republican and democratic.” Based on what he has said recently, this would rule out candidates from the National Rally (RN) and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party. Leaders on the far left and the center left both asked their third-placed candidates to drop out.

Minority government

Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of France Unbowed, said, “Our rule is simple and clear: not a single more vote for the National Rally.” But the center-right Republicans party, which split before the vote when some of its members joined the RN, didn’t say anything.

The president of the RN party, Jordan Bardella, who is 28 years old, said he was ready to be prime minister if his party gets a majority of seats. He has said he won’t try to make a minority government, and neither Macron nor the communist NFP will work with him.

“I will be a “cohabitation” Prime Minister, respectful of the constitution and of the office of President of the Republic, but uncompromising about the policies we will implement,” he said.

A few thousand anti-RN protesters met in Paris’s Republique square on Sunday night for a rally of the leftist alliance. The mood was gloomy.

Niya Khaldi, a 33-year-old teacher, said that the RN’s good results made her feel “disgust, sadness, and fear.”

“This is not how I normally act,” she said. “I think I came to reassure myself, to not feel alone.”

Election Runoff

The result on Sunday didn’t have much of an effect on the market. In early Asia-Pacific trade, the euro gained about 0.23%. Fiona Cincotta, a senior markets expert at City Index in London, said she was glad the outcome “didn’t come as a surprise.”

“Le Pen had a slightly smaller margin than some of the polls had pointed to, which may have helped the euro a little bit higher on the open,” she noted. “Now everyone is waiting for July 7 to see if the second round supports a clear majority or not. So it does feel like we’re on the edge of something.”

Some pollsters thought the RN would win the most seats in the National Assembly, but Elabe was the only one who thought the party would win all 289 seats in the run-off. Seat projections made after the first round of voting are often very wrong, and this race is no exception.

On Sunday night, Reuters reported there were no final results for the whole country yet, but they were due in the next few hours. In France, exit polls have usually been very accurate.

Voter turnout was high compared to previous parliamentary elections. This shows how passionate people are about politics after Macron made the shocking and politically risky decision to call a vote in parliament.

Mathieu Gallard, research head at Ipsos France, said that at 1500 GMT, nearly 60% of voters had turned out, up from 39.42% two years earlier. This was the highest comparable turnout since the 1986 legislative vote. It wasn’t clear when the official number of people who voted would be changed.

World News

Pakistan Seeks US Support for Counter-Terrorism Operation Azm-e-Istehkam

(CTN News) – Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan, has urged Washington to provide Pakistan with sophisticated small arms and communication equipment to ensure the success of Operation Azm-e-Istehkam, a newly approved counter-terrorism initiative in the country.

The federal government recently approved the reinvigorated national counter-terrorism drive, which comprises three components: doctrinal, societal, and operational.

Ambassador Khan noted that work on the first two phases has already begun, with the third phase set to be implemented soon.

Addressing US policymakers, scholars, and corporate leaders at the Wilson Center in Washington, Khan emphasized the importance of strong security links, enhanced intelligence cooperation, and the resumption of sales of advanced military platforms between Pakistan and the US.

He argued that this is crucial for regional security and countering the rising tide of terrorism, which also threatens the interests of the US and its allies.

“Pakistan has launched Azm-i-Istehkam […] to oppose and dismantle terrorist networks. For that, we need sophisticated small arms and communication equipment,” said Ambassador Khan.

Pakistan–United States relations

The ambassador observed that the prospects of Pakistan-United States relations were bright, stating that the two countries “share values, our security and economic interests are interwoven, and it is the aspiration of our two peoples that strengthens our ties.”

He invited US investors and businesses to explore Pakistan’s potential in terms of demographic dividend, technological advancements, and market opportunities.

Khan also suggested that the US should consider Pakistan as a partner in its diplomatic efforts in Kabul and collaborate on counterterrorism and the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

He stressed that the bilateral relationship should be based on ground realities and not be hindered by a few issues.

“We should not base our engagement on the incongruity of expectations.

Our ties should be anchored in ground realities, even as we aim for stronger security and economic partnerships. Secondly, one or two issues should not hold the entire relationship hostage,” said the ambassador.

World News

China Urges Taiwanese to Visit Mainland ‘Without Worry’ Despite Execution Threat

China Urges Taiwanese to Visit Mainland Without Worry Despite Threats

China has reassured Taiwanese citizens that they can visit the mainland “without the slightest worry”, despite Taiwan raising its travel alert to the second-highest level in response to Beijing’s new judicial guidelines targeting supporters of Taiwanese independence.

Last week, China published guidelines that could impose the death penalty for “particularly serious” cases involving “diehard” advocates of Taiwanese independence.

In response, Taiwan’s government urged the public to avoid “unnecessary travel” to mainland China and Hong Kong, and raised its travel warning to the “orange” level.

However, Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for a Chinese body overseeing Taiwan affairs, stated that the new directives are “aimed solely at the very small number of supporters of ‘Taiwan independence’, who are engaged in malicious acts and utterances”.

She emphasized that “the vast majority of Taiwan compatriots involved in cross-strait exchanges and cooperation do not need to have the slightest worry when they come to or leave mainland China”.

“They can arrive in high spirits and leave fully satisfied with their stay,” Zhu added.

What’s Behind The China-Taiwan Tensions?

The tensions stem from the longstanding dispute over Taiwan’s status. Mainland China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has refused to rule out using force to bring the democratic island under its control, while Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state.

Beijing has not conducted top-level communications with Taipei since 2016, when the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen became Taiwan’s leader. China has since branded her successor, President Lai Ching-te, a “dangerous separatist”.

“The DPP authorities have fabricated excuses to deceive the people on the island and incite confrontation and opposition,” Zhu said in her statement.
Despite the political tensions, many Taiwanese continue to travel to mainland China for work, study, or business.