Deputies of the National People's Congress (NPC) re-elected Xi Jinping as the President of the People's Republic of China for a third term, Xinhua news agency reports. This is the first time that the head of state retains this position for the third time.
In addition, Xi Jinping also retained the position of chairman of the Central Military Council of the People's Republic of China, notes Kommersant, which drew attention to the publication. The decision was adopted unanimously by 2,952 voting participants. Also, the first vice-premier of the State Council, Han Zheng, was elected the deputy chairman of the People's Republic of China. Zhao Lezhi, a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, has been appointed chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Republic of China.
Voting took place at the third plenary meeting of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress. Shortly before that, the deputies also adopted a plan to reform the apparatus of the State Council of the People's Republic of China.
The State Council is China's highest executive body. The final reform plan has not yet been published. It is known that he will strengthen the "centralized leadership" of the Chinese Communist Party and should improve the efficiency of the state apparatus.
Xi Jinping is 69 years old. He became the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2012, and was elected the Chairman of the People's Republic of China in 2013 and 2018. In 2017 and 2022, he was re-elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
In February, it became known that the President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping, plans to visit Moscow. This is the first visit by the Chinese leader since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began a year ago. Beijing reportedly intends to persuade the Kremlin not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
China is considering supplying Russia with drones, artillery and ammunition, CNN and The Wall Street Journal reported on February 25, citing sources familiar with US intelligence. Beijing has previously denied plans to supply Moscow with weapons.
