China party meets to grant Xi Jinping 5 more years in office

BEIJING (AP) — China on Sunday opened a twice-a-decade Communist Party conference at which leader Xi Jinping is expected to receive a third five-year term that breaks with recent precedent and establishes him as arguably the most powerful Chinese politician since Mao Zedong.

Xi is expected to issue a lengthy address at the opening session, but little change is foreseen in China’s strict one-party rule, intolerance of criticism and hard-line approach toward COVID-19 including quarantines and travel bans.

As with most Chinese political events, little information has been released beforehand and the congress’ outcome will only be announced after days of closed-door sessions.

How much has been decided in advance and how much is still to be hashed out in face-to-face meetings remains unknown.