BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping is stepping up efforts to secure an unprecedented third five-year term in office, according to multiple sources close to the Xi administration.
The Chinese Communist Party is expected to hold in mid-October or later its 20th national congress, at which major leadership changes are typically announced. As general secretary, Xi, 69, holds the party's top position.
At a meeting of high-ranking officials held in Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday, Xi reportedly said that "objectives and plans" for the party and state "for the next five years, or over an even longer term" will be presented at the upcoming congress. Some in the party interpreted this as Xi hinting at the possibility of him staying in power even after the third term and into a fourth beginning in 2027.
