China's Xi reveals new leadership team but no obvious successor

At just before noon on Wednesday, Xi unveiled the new line-up of China's top ruling council – the Communist party's politburo standing committee – leading six besuited comrades out into a blaze of camera flashes in the Great Hall of the People.

"Here, on behalf of the newly elected central leadership, I wish to express our heartfelt thanks to all other members of the party for the trust they have placed in us. We will work diligently to meet our duty, fulfil our mission and be worthy of their trust," Xi said in a 21-minute address that marks the formal start of his second term.

Crucially, the all-male group contained no potential successor, since none of its five new members – all aged between 60 and 67 – is young enough to take the reins from Xi after the end of his second term, in 2022, and to then rule for the customary decade.

Such is the secrecy that cloaks Chinese politics that the identities of the standing committee's incoming members were known only as Xi escorted them out onto a scarlet-carpeted stage.

Joining Xi and premier Li Keqiang on the elite committee are: Li Zhanshu, 67, Han Zheng, 63, Zhao Leji, 60, Wang Yang, 62 and Wang Huning, 62.

"I still can't get over the fact how the world's second largest economy, which is declaring this new role of global leadership, is nearly as opaque as the North Korean political system," said Jude Blanchette, an expert in Chinese politics from New York's Conference Board research group.

"I just find that absolutely striking and in a way almost unacceptable for a system that wants to play such a fundamental role in guiding and shaping the 21st century."

China's propaganda apparatus has touted this week's political show as an example of openness and transparency.

However, a number of major western news organisations whose coverage of Xi's rule has irked Beijing were excluded from Wednesday's event without explanation including the BBC, the Financial Times, the Economist, the New York Times and the Guardian.

In his address, Xi outlined his vision for what he called China's "new era", an era in which an emboldened and purified Communist party would play an even more prominent role in returning the country to its former glories.

"It is my conviction that the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will become a reality," he said, urging his party to become "the backbone of our nation."

"We should never entertain the idea of taking a breather or halting our steps. Instead, we must continue to rid ourselves of any virus that erodes the party's fabric, make great efforts to foster a healthy political environment of integrity and generate waves of positive energy throughout our party which can build into a mighty nationwide force driving China's development and progress."

Xi also pledged "a resolute push" to eradicate poverty, to "open China still wider to the world" and hinted at the more assertive and muscular role Beijing is expected to seek on the world stage in the years ahead. "With confidence and pride the Chinese people will be steadfast in upholding our country's sovereignty, security and development interests," he said. The unveiling of China's new ruling council came one day after the end of the 19th party congress, a week-long political summit at which Xi established himself as the country's most dominant leader since its revolutionary founder Mao Zedong.