What Xi Jinping’s Congress means for India

Chinese leader Xi Jinping began his unprecedented third five-year term on Sunday (October 23) in eve

Chinese leader Xi Jinping began his unprecedented third five-year term on Sunday (October 23) in even firmer control of the ruling Communist Party after filling the newly announced Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) with all of his allies. As many as four Xi allies were appointed to the PBSC after the week-long CPC congress. With two other allies continuing on the PBSC, this marks an unprecedented clean sweep of all seven positions on the all-powerful body, a first in Chinese Communist Party politics where power in the past was shared between different party factions, an arrangement shattered by Xi, who is 69 and may remain at the helm for the next decade at the very least.

What may be the likely impact on relations with India following Xi’s emergence from the Party Congress in firm grip? One message from the Congress was an emphasis on China continuing a “fighting spirit”, a term that was even included into the Constitution which was amended by the Congress. The amendment called for “carrying forward our fighting spirit and building up our fighting ability”, referring to China’s more assertive diplomacy under Xi. Other amendments further reaffirmed Xi’s “core” status.

Other Congress developments of note for India:

1. Former Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur writes on the need to talk about the 1962 war. The 60th anniversary fell on October 20

2. We also looked at how China’s military and media are paying renewed attention to a war that was largely previously sidelined in official Chinese military histories, coinciding with recent border tensions.

3. Suhasini Haidar explains why the Financial Action Task Force, the global watchdog on anti-money laundering and combating financing terrorism (AML/CFT) efforts, announced it would take Pakistan off its “grey list”.

4. Peter Ronald de Souza explains what is at stake in Brazil’s elections, including a turn to the left or a return to the right and a threatened peaceful succession.