Buried beneath a mountain of presents on Christmas Day was the ultimate gift and it landed in President Xi Jinping’s lap. On December 25, China’s equivalent of the political “wise men” gathered for an influential meeting of the Politburo Bureau Standing Committee in Beijing. Naturally, Xi presided over the event where there were more stars on show than you would find on a Yule-time tree.
The outcome was predictable and illustrated the grip that the general-secretary of the ruling Communist Party has on every aspect of political life in the world’s second-largest economy. An extract from the official statement released by the government-run Xinhua news agency underlined Xi’s status as China’s most powerful leader since Chairman Mao Zedong.
The outcome was predictable and illustrated the grip that the general-secretary of the ruling Communist Party has on every aspect of political life in the world’s second-largest economy. An extract from the official statement released by the government-run Xinhua news agency underlined Xi’s status as China’s most powerful leader since Chairman Mao Zedong.
