A landmark resolution, adopted by the Chinese Communist Party on November 11, is expected to further strengthen President Xi Jinping’s hold on power and position him for a third term in office next year.
Xi Jinping was first elected in 2013, just months after succeeding Hu Jintao as general secretary of China’s Communist Party. In 2018, the country’s constitution was amended to abolish term limits, effectively enabling Xi to remain in power indefinitely.
Under his leadership, China has not only embraced more authoritarian domestic policies but has also adopted a confrontational approach on the international stage.
In a notable development, Xi met with US President Joe Biden for a virtual summit on Monday. This marked the first engagement between the two leaders since Biden took office in January. The discussions come in response to growing competition and escalating tensions between these two global superpowers across various fronts.
XI, left, stands with his father, Xi Zhongxun, and his younger brother, Xi Yuanping, in 1958. Xi Zhongxun was a communist revolutionary who held several positions in the National People’s Congress. Pictures From History/NewscomFrom 1969 to 1975, Xi worked as an agricultural laborer in Liangjiahe, China. He was among the millions of urban youths who were “sent down,” forced to leave cities to work as laborers in the countryside. Xinhua/NewscomXi, right, poses for a photo as a college student in 1977. Xinhua/NewscomA 1979 photo of Xi as he worked for the general office of the Central Military Commission.
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Xi listens to villagers in north China’s Zhengding County in 1983. At the time, he was secretary of the Zhengding County Committee.
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Xi poses for a photo as he sits in his office in 1983. Pictures From History/NewscomXi — in the back row, second from right — poses with a group in Muscatine, Iowa, in 1985. As part of an agricultural delegation, he was making his first trip to the United States.
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Xi receives a key to the city from Muscatine Mayor Gerald Powell. Muscatine Journal/ZUMAPRESS/NewscomXi visits San Francisco in 1985. Xinhua/NewscomXi and his new wife, folk singer Peng Liyuan, pose for a photo on China’s Dongshan Island in 1987.
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Xi, as the Communist Party secretary of Ningde, China, participates in farm work in 1988.
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Xi and Peng in 1989. Xinhua/NewscomXi, left, meets with citizens of Fuzhou, China, in 1993. He was the city’s party secretary from 1990-1996.
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Xi, front left, helps reinforce a levee of the Minjiang River in 1995.
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Xi meets with Wu Poh-hsiung, vice president of the opposition party Kuomintang, in 2000. From 1996-2002, Xi held various posts in China’s Fujian Province, including governor.
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As Shanghai’s party secretary in 2007, Xi welcomes former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Pepsi President and CEO Indra Krishanamurthy Nooyi.
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Xi talks with hearing-impaired students at a school in Shanghai in 2007.
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Xi brings blankets to a villager after ice storms in 2008. That year, Xi became China’s vice president.
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Xi kicks a soccer ball in 2008 as he inspects a field in Qinhuangdao, China. The stadium was hosting games during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
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Xi chats with former US President Jimmy Carter in 2009. Carter was attending a Beijing dinner that celebrated 30 years of US-China relations.
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Xi feeds swans during an official visit to Hungary in 2009.
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Xi and US Vice President Joe Biden inspect an honor-guard contingent during a welcoming ceremony in Beijing in 2011.
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Xi pushes his father as he walks with his wife and his daughter, Xi Mingze, in 2012.
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Xi became China’s President in March 2013. Here, he walks with US President Barack Obama before a bilateral meeting in Rancho Mirage, California, in June 2013.
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Xi meets with former US President Bill Clinton in Beijing in 2013. Liu Weibing/XinHua/NewscomXi visits Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba, in 2014. Xinhua/Alamy Stock PhotoXi and Peng pose with the Obamas before a state dinner in Washington in 2015. Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesXi has dinner with US President Donald Trump at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in April 2017.
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Xi shakes hands with teachers and students while visiting a university in Beijing in May 2017.
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Xi inspects a military garrison in Hong Kong in June 2017. Li Gang/Xinhua/Alamy Live NewsXi shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin before a meeting in Moscow in July 2017.
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Xi, center, attends the closing session of the 19th National Congress in October 2017.
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Xi and US President Donald Trump take part in a welcome ceremony as Trump visited Beijing in November 2017.
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Xi and British Prime Minister Theresa May take part in a tea ceremony in Beijing in February 2018.
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French President Emmanuel Macron walks with Xi during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in March 2019.
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Xi waves from a car in October 2019 after inspecting the troops during a parade in Beijing.
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Xi prepares to give a speech during an inauguration ceremony in Macao in December 2019.
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Xi learns about progress on a coronavirus vaccine and antibody treatment during a visit to the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Beijing in March 2020.
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Xi arrives for a visit in Tibet in July 2021. Xie Huanchi/Xinhua/Getty ImaXi visits Gaoxigou Village in Mizhi County, China, in September 2021. Li Xueren/Xinhua/Getty ImagesXi attends a Central Committee meeting in Beijing in November 2021. Xie Huanchi/Xinhua/Getty ImagesXi meets with US President Joe Biden during a virtual summit in November 2021. Officials said the three-and-a-half hour meeting, which stretched longer than planned, allowed the two men ample opportunity to diverge from their prepared talking points. The tone remained “respectful and straightforward,” the officials said, but the summit yielded no major breakthroughs.
