China’s Xi Jinping begins historic third term, ReshuffleS Carbinet.

China’s leader Xi Jinping has secured a historic third term as president from the country’s rubber-stamp parliament.

It follows a consolidation of power that has made Mr Xi, 69, China’s most dominant leader in generations.

In the Chinese system of governance, the functions of the president are largely ceremonial.

Mr Xi’s power comes from him being General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC).

He was handed both posts at a party congress last October.

Confirmation of his third term as president had been widely expected. The naming of a new premier and various ministers in the coming days is considered more important.

The new appointees are mostly expected to be Xi Jinping loyalists. This includes Li Qiang, who is tipped to serve as Mr Xi’s number two.

On Friday, Mr Xi has also gained another term as the chairman of the CMC of the People’s Republic of China. There are two CMCs in the country – one is a party organisation while another is a state institution – but their make-up is usually the same.

Mr Xi has solidified his rule as China reopens from his bruising zero-Covid policy that has fuelled anti-government protests. The country is also facing a falling birth rate that threatens its economic growth engine.

Ties between Beijing and Washington remain testy, recently highlighted by allegations China had been spying on the US with balloons.

“Whether a strengthened Xi and increasing centralisation is sufficient to overcome these problems – or perhaps make them worse – is unknown and perhaps not knowable at present,” Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University Singapore, told the BBC.

“In a sense, Xi is betting that centralisation under the party with him at the helm is a solution to these disparate issues,” he said.

Li Qiang, the former Communist Party leader of the country’s biggest city of Shanghai, will now lead the government, replacing retiring Li Keqiang.

The 63-year-old received almost every vote from more than 2,900 delegates at the National People’s Congress.

A close ally of Mr Xi, he is seen as a pragmatist and will be tasked with reviving China’s struggling economy.New ministerial appointments are expected to be announced on Sunday.