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Nov. 11 (UPI) — The Communist Party of China approved a resolution on Thursday that elevates President Xi Jinping’s leadership to a historically elite status and sets the stage for him to stay in power beyond 2022, when he was originally supposed to turn the reins over to someone else.
Top party leaders approved the resolution in a closed-door meeting on Thursday on the final day of the Central Committee’s plenary session in Beijing.
The landmark resolution effectively rewrites party history and achievements and formally elevates Xi to the same lofty status as former Communist Party leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. They are the only three Chinese leaders to be awarded that particular significant status.
“At the session, the Central Committee explained that a review of the party’s major achievements and historical experience over the past century was necessary,” the committee said in a statement.
The party said one of the leaders for the historical revision was to “resolutely [uphold] Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Central Committee and in the party as a whole and upholding the Central Committee’ authority and its centralized, unified leadership to ensure that all party members act in unison.”
Before 2018, Chinese presidents were limited to two five-year terms. A change allows Xi to keep power beyond next year, when, by tradition, he would be expected to turn power over to another member of the party.
Thursday’s resolution virtually ensures that Xi, 68, will keep power — possibly for life.
The historical resolution praises Xi’s policies as they relate to the economy, pollution, poverty and corruption since he took office in 2012. It enshrines the Chinese leader’s legacy and solidifies party achievements over the past 100 years.
“[Xi’s Communist Party] has demonstrated great historical initiative, tremendous political courage, and a powerful sense of mission,” the committee added.
“It has solved many tough problems that were long on the agenda but never resolved and accomplished many things that were wanted but never got done. With this, it has prompted historic achievements and historic shifts in the cause of the Party and the country.”
Xi’s political philosophy, called “Xi Jinping Thought,” has been added to the curriculum from primary school all the way through college.
The Communist Party Congress will convene next year, at which time Xi’s immediate political future will be finalized.