Brookings: Toward Xi’s third term: China’s 20th Party Congress and beyond

Bush China Foundation Senior Fellow and Senior Advisor on China at the Carter Center, Yawei Liu, participated in a panel on “Xi Jinping’s past, present and future” at the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings on January 20, 2022. Thetwo panel discussion featured top China scholars, who discussed the evolution of norms in Chinese elite politics, predictions of the outcomes of the 20th Party Congress, and what the future holds for Xi Jinping.

Panelists discussed the future makeup of the top echelon of Chinese leadership. As Chinese leaders confront a year of unknowns ahead — from the deterioration of U.S.-China relations to economic structural changes — any move could affect the outcome of the leadership change. Having led the country for almost a decade, Xi has undertaken unprecedented campaigns to fight corruption, reform the military, and eliminate poverty. The group spoke to the plans, priorities, and challenges that lie ahead for Xi’s anticipated third term and how factional politics and new elite groups will play into the selection of the next generation of leaders.