Did China's Xi Jinping Secure A President-For-Life Position? What You Need To Know

The Chinese Communist Party has passed a "historical resolution" that will secure President Xi Jinping's political power for the foreseeable future.

What Happened: The resolution is the third of its kind in the party’s history — the first was passed by Mao Zedong in 1945 and the second by Deng Xiaoping in 1981, and both resulted in their respective control of the party’s leadership.

The resolution was passed Thursday morning at the closing of the sixth plenary session of the Central Committee, or the sixth plenum, a four-day, closed-door meeting that accommodated 400 full and alternate members of the Communist Party’s Central Committee at Beijing’s Jingxi Hotel.

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What Happens Next: The resolution — which has yet to be published for wide release — is a summary of the party's 100-year history that also details its major achievements and future directions.

The plenum is the last major Communist Party meeting before next year’s convening of the national congress, where Xi is expected to seek a historic third term as president. China dropped its two-term limit on the presidency in 2018, which could result in Xi gaining a lifetime presidency.

Adam Ni, editor of the Beijing-focused current affairs newsletter China Neican, told the BBC that Xi will leverage the plenum to reshape his legacy.

"He is trying to cast himself as the hero in the epic of China's national journey," said Ni. "By pushing through a historical resolution that puts himself at the center of the grand narrative of the Party and modern China, Mr. Xi is demonstrating his power. But the document is also a tool to help him retain this power."

Photo: Kremlin.ru/Wikimedia Commons.