ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a detailed analysis of the October 2022 Twentieth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), historically significant because it was the congress at which Xi Jinping secured a third term as CCP General Secretary. It could well be that the Twentieth Party Congress opened the door to the restoration of lifelong tenure in China, not seen since the days of Deng. Perhaps even more important, the congress appointed Xi’s close political associates to fill the Politburo Standing Committee and most of the Politburo. Not including people from contending wings of the party makes the new leadership the most personalistic in party history (even Mao contended with strong people in the party), thus making the party qua party less important. The historical record of personalistic regimes is not especially positive. It remains to be seen whether Xi Jinping can do better.
