On Sunday October 23, Xi Jinping was confirmed for a third five-year term to lead China until at least 2027.
He is joined by a team heavily weighted to close allies while introducing new diverse backgrounds including advanced degrees and work experience spanning aerospace, material science, public health, environmental science and nuclear science—all areas aligned to strategic imperatives.
Our deep dive analysis released the day after the close of the 20th Party Congress reviews the weeklong event to decipher the implications to business.
Key points to be aware include:
- Five more years: Xi Jinping was confirmed as Party chief for a third five-year term. With no clear successor, there may be additional terms ahead. Irrespective of the outlook, Xi’s leadership appears more unchallengeable than ever.
- An aligned leadership team: The new leadership team is heavily weighted to those allied to Xi, but also introduces new capabilities with strong STEM and security experience within the Politburo.
- No change of course: Overarching long-term policy direction set to stay. But near-term tactics to be influenced by heightened focus on security and innovation, in response to external challenges.
- National security across the nation: Enhancing national security was front-and-center, from agriculture and tech supply chains to financial security through to strengthening the military. Expect a whole-of-state response to boosting self-reliance and security, which may drive other nations to respond.
- Still reforming and opening-up: Continued commitment to opening-up, foreign investment, and letting markets play a decisive role, but balanced against a strengthening of the state sector.
- Corporate resilience required: While the new leadership team brings new predictability, the road ahead faces notable uncertainty with no visible change to Covid-19 policies, complex foreign relations, and elevated tensions in the Taiwan Strait set to remain. Businesses need to review vulnerabilities and ensure that their strategy is resilient to external factors.