China's ruling Communist Party has named President Xi Jinping "core leader", making him the most powerful leader in decades with the kind of authority once held by founding father Mao Zedong and former chief Deng Xiaoping.
A communique issued at the close of a four-day party plenum in a Beijing hotel puts Mr Xi, who is also general secretary of the party and head of the military, into a strong position ahead of a reshuffle of the powerful standing committee of the politburo next year.
The lengthy statement said the congress to announce that reshuffle, which happens every five years, would take place in the second half of 2017. During the sixth plenum, 400 top cadres discussed how to manage the party, which has 88 million members.
Most of the standing committee, except for Mr Xi and premier Li Keqiang, are due to retire next year and Mr Xi will hope to fill the seven-person panel with his allies. The panel is the governing body of the party and thus all-powerful in China.
Party discipline
The communique also contained a strong message on party discipline and an emphasis on Mr Xi’s campaign against corruption in public life, adopting two new regulations governing the conduct of senior party officials.
Cadres were urged to “closely unite around the Communist Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core”, to become more aware of the need to uphold political integrity and keep in mind the bigger picture.
“Together we must build a clean and righteous political environment, and ensure that the party unites and leads the people to continuously open up new prospects for socialism with Chinese characteristics,” the statement carried on the Xinhua news agency said.
However, the statement also stressed the collective nature of the leadership “must always be followed and should not be violated by any organisation or individual under any circumstance or for any reason”.
It was Mr Deng who first used the expression "core" leader to describe a top cadre who cannot be questioned or criticised and he passed it on to Jiang Zemin when he succeeded him in November 1989. However, Mr Xi's predecessor Hu Jintao was not a core leader, merely general secretary.
There is speculation that Mr Xi will stay on after 2022, when his two five-year periods in office are up and a new standing committee of the politburo will be appointed.
Mao held on to his chairmanship until his death at age 82, and Mr Xi is only 63.
However, some analysts say he is unlikely to stay on, and will be watching next year’s congress for clues about who will replace him.
A longer statement will be issued on Xinhua giving details of what went on at the plenum in coming weeks.
