The Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Congress is expected to cement President Xi Jinping’s place in history among China’s top leaders, with delegates meeting in Beijing expected to give him the green light for an unprecedented third term in office as the secretary general of the party.
But as the twice-a-decade event begins on Sunday, the party, which has ruled China since 1949, faces some of its most difficult economic challenges in 30 years, with the gross domestic product (GDP) predicted to grow somewhere between 2 and 3 percent, a figure that is a marked drop compared with highs of 6-7 percent over the past decade.
