China’s leader, Xi Jinping, extended his formidable dominance on Saturday, advancing a contingent of Communist Party loyalists ready to defend his personal power and expand the state’s influence over the economy and on national security.
Xi has transformed China through his authoritarian rule over the past decade, purging potential rivals, crushing dissent and reasserting the central role of the Communist Party across Chinese society. Xi has long been expected to secure a third five-year term as the party’s general secretary. But evidence of his even tighter hold over the party came on Saturday, when the Communist Party congress approved a new membership list for the Central Committee, the elite body from which China’s top leaders are drawn.
