"As the Chinese saying goes, the last leg of a journey marks the halfway point. Achieving national rejuvenation will be no walk in the park; it will take more than drum beating and gong clanging to get there," Chinese President Xi Jinping made these remarks while addressing the gathering at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing during the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in October 2017.
Five years later, the halfway journey is complete and President Xi is set to enter the second decade of his rule - an unprecedented third term. The 20th Congress, beginning October 16, will be the most important event in China's political calendar as it puts the final seal of approval to Xi's all-powerful leadership over the party, state and armed forces. Xi's predecessors had relinquished the presidency after a maximum of two 5-year terms, keeping in line with the three-decade tradition after the death of party founder Mao Zedong in 1976.
But this tradition was broken by an amendment to the Chinese constitution by the National People's Congress, the country's Parliament, in 2018 removing the two 5-year norm, paving the way for a third term, or even a life rule by Xi.
Xi had completed the preparatory work even before the beginning of his third term in the 20th party Congress. Loyalist officers have been placed in all key positions at least a year ago such as the five PLA services and the five theatre commands. His detractors had been eased out in a tough anti-corruption drive, purges and investigations.
Mao Zedong famously said ''political power grows out of the barrel of a gun''. As Xi grows more powerful in his third term, the most important changes to be watched in the next seven days will be the Central Military Commission (CMC) appointments with Xi in the chair at the 20th party congress.
The CMC oversees the PLA and determines Beijing's national security and foreign policy objectives. It is the top CCP organisation whose members oversee leading party organisations, directs the five theatre commands and oversee the army, navy, airforce, rocket force, strategic support force and joint logistic support force.
Xi became chairman of CMC even before he became China's president which demonstrated the attention he paid to the military command over political command. As he started getting a stronger grip on the party, he affected changes in the PLA leadership bringing reforms in 2016 to transform it into a modern fighting force. The modernisation and reforms will now be completed by the new generation of officers who will take over the CMC from the old guard. Among the seven incumbents - including Xi and two vice chairmen, four members are expected to retire – Xu Qiliang, 72; Zhang Youxia, 72; Wei Fenghe, 68 and Li Zuocheng, 69. Therefore, four new CMC members are likely to be appointed at the 20th party Congress.
The emphasis will be on combat realistic training and joint operations to make the PLA battle-ready, drawing experience from the Russian experience of Ukraine.
The 20th party congress will also announce the composition of the new central committee, comprising nearly 200 members in the party, state and military. Out of these nearly 25 will be selected for politburo, of which nearly seven will become part of the apex politburo standing committee. In the same way, seven members will join the CMC comprising the all-powerful team of Xi and completing his smooth transition into a third term.
