Chinese President Xi elected as delegate to CPC Congress

Beijing: China's ruling Communist Party has set the ball rolling for a rare third term for President Xi Jinping as he was unanimously elected as a delegate for the once-in-five-year party Congress to be held in the next few months which was widely expected to put a seal of approval for his continuation.

Xi, 68, was elected delegate to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at the party's Guangxi regional Congress by a unanimous vote on Friday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Xi was nominated by the CPC Central Committee as a candidate for delegate to the 20th CPC National Congress, scheduled to be held in the second half of 2022, the report said.

The CPC Congress of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was held on Thursday and Friday in the regional capital of Nanning.

The Congress, which is due to be held in November, has been preponed apparently as the leadership get-on with it early in view of complex and fluid national and international situation starting from relapse of COVID-19 virus in the country paralysing Shanghai and the deepening Russia-Ukraine war in which Beijing was caught in the middle with mounting US pressure to break off from close ally Moscow.

Ever since his first election in a similar CPC Congress towards the end of the 2012, Xi heading the party, the powerful military and the presidency has consolidated his hold on power, highlighting the need for strong leadership to strengthen stability of the party and the country in the face of international adversity building against the country on a host of issues.