Xi re-elected Chi's President, trusted aide is Vice President

 Beijing, March 17: Chi’s largely ceremonial Parliament on Saturday re-elected Xi Jinping as the country’s President and appointed his aide and once feared anti-graft body’s chief Wang Qishan as Vice President. The 64-year-old Xi’s re-election was a mere formality as the tiol People’s Congress (NPC) — Chi’s top legislature — on March 11 abolished from the Constitution the two-term limit for President and Vice President. Even if the cap was not removed, Xi would have continued as this would have been his second term.

Xi, who became Chi’s President in 2013, was also re-elected as the Chairman of Chi’s Central Military Commission that controls the world’s largest standing army. In an unprecedented move, Xi took the oath of allegiance to the Constitution, which has been amended five times since its ectment in 1954. Like Xi’s re-election, Wang’s appointment was no surprise as he enjoys the President’s patroge.
Wang, 69, said to be Xi’s most trusted aide, spearheaded an anti-graft campaign which made him Chi’s most feared man. The association between Xi and Wang goes back to Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution when both were sent to a village in Shanxi province for hard labour. While all 2,970 lawmakers voted in favour of Xi, only one voted against Wang’s election. Xi is more powerful as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Chi than as the President of the world’s most populous country.
Wang may well be called Xi’s deputy and may get to handle Chi’s turbulent ties with the US after Dold Trump’s election as President. The Parliament, which is currently in its annual session, also adopted the plan of Cabinet restructuring for better work performance. (IANS)

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