What's Xi Jinping Up To?

IMAGE: Xi arrives for the opening session. The NPC session is a precursor to the 20th congress of the Chinese Communist party where he hopes to be confirmed for an unprecendented third term.
All photographs: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

IMAGE: Premier Li Keqiang can be seen in the background.

IMAGE: Other Chinese leaders take their seats.

IMAGE: Xi settles into his seat.
'The party constitution does not have term limits...but there has been an age limit in place that has been respected through three transitions. Abolishing the term limit for the president suggests that Xi will try to stay on as chairman after 2022, but it does not guarantee that he will succeed,' David Dollar of the Brookings Institution, the Washington, DC-based think-tank, wrote in The Hill last week.

IMAGE: Tea is served to Xi and Li.

IMAGE: Speaking at a Webinar at the Brookings Institution in January, Cheng Li, senior fellow and director, John L Thornton China Center, at Brookings predicted, 'Xi will likely promote a significant number of leaders who were born in the 1960s to the (Chinese Communist party's) Politburo. Among them, three or four will enter the Politburo Standing Committee (the highest decision making body in China) to signal that a generational change is underway.'
'While loyalty to Xi Jinping explains many promotions,' Cheng added, 'Xi Jinping will likely allow some leaders from other factions or without factional identities to up to 10 seats in the Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee to sustain leadership of unity.'

IMAGE: Premier Li delivers his work report on the state of the Chinese economy.

IMAGE: Li leaves at the end of the session.

IMAGE: Xi too leaves and the other leaders follow.