• China’s ruling party, Communist Party of China (CPC), is on the final stretch of the journey that will culminate in the election of new leadership to steer the country for the next five years.
• It is expected that President Xi Jinping will be given the mandate to continue for a third term. He took over the leadership of the country in 2013.
Kenya will be keenly following the change of guard in China over the next one week as the Asian country embarks on a journey to elect the country’s new leadership.
China’s ruling party, Communist Party of China (CPC), is on the final stretch of the journey that will culminate in the election of new leadership to steer the country for the next five years.
The new leadership is expected to come up with ways of enhancing bilateral relations with other developing countries, especially in Africa.
It remains to be seen how China and Kenya will relate, given both countries will be dealing with new leadership.
During the August 9 General election, Kenyans elected William Ruto as their fifth president.
Ruto has criticised the previous regime’s appetite for borrowing and has promised to cut down on borrowing and instead introduce measures to help reduce spending.
China which has been Kenya’s dependable partner for financial aid and loans, however, remains confident that the relationship between the two countries will improve for the better.
The CPC has put on a brave face amid challenges of a slowing economy.
The party said despite the global economic challenges, it has steered the country towards a steady economic growth over the last decade.
“During that period, we contributed on average over 30 per cent to global growth,” Sun Yeli told an international press conference on Saturday evening.
He is the spokesperson for the 20th CPC National Congress which will be held between October 16 to October 22, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
CPC’s new leadership has been entrusted on 2,296 delegates, who will be in the week-long meeting to deliberate on key issues including adoption of the amendments to the party constitution, which will guide the country for the next five years.
Yeli said the 2,296 delegates represent 4.9 million primary-level party organisations and over 96 million CPC members across China.
The congress secretary general will be Wang Huning and it is from here that the 20th CPC Central Committee, the highest organ of the party will be elected alongside the 20thCPC Central Commission for the Discipline Inspection.
At the end of the week-long congress, the new Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 20th Central Committee will then address the media, both local and international.
It is expected that President Xi Jinping will be given the mandate to continue for a third term. He took over the leadership of the country in 2013.
The CPC National Congress spokesperson however, noted that China's economy has been performing above expectation given the size of the country which has a population of more than 1.4 billion people.
He said China has overcome many obstacles to build a moderately prosperous society, beyond expectations set over 40 years ago.
He said the country’s sound management ensured that absolute poverty was a thing of the past by the end of 2020.
“The Chinese people are living a much better life,” Yeli said.
He added that the party and country have turned a new page and the next goal of is to achieve a socialist country in all respects.
“We have the confidence, resolve and capabilities to meet these new goals.”
Yeli said since 2013, when President Xi Jinping took over, China’s economy has been growing at 6.6 per cent annually, higher than the global average of 2.6 per cent, and the 3.7 per cent growth rate of other developing economies.
He noted that although the Covid-19 pandemic and global environment caused downward pressure on its economy, China responded effectively and robustly and in the process stabilised economic performance, emerging as the best among emerging economies.
Despite all the obstacles, Yeli said, China’s development still has many favourable conditions, including strong economic resilience, great potential and good momentum.
“The fundamentals for long term economic development remain unchanged,” he said.
He also defended the country’s dynamic zero-covid policy that has been criticised by the international community.
He said the policy is based on a scientific approach whose essence is rapid response and targeted measures to bring the Covid situation under control with minimum costs to society and at the shortest time possible.
“The dynamic zero-covid policy has enabled us to keep the fatality rates at a very low level.”
The policy, he insisted, is also meant to minimise the impact of the pandemic to the economy and people’s normal lives.