• Xi Jinping’s loyal inner circle cements his grip on power and China’s future.
• The country’s trajectory is dictated by one man’s vision and ambition to an extent unprecedented in decades.
• Xi stacked his party’s upper levels with lifelong proteges and cronies.

Xi Jinping’s red-carpet entrance on Sunday to begin his norm-breaking third term as China’s leader was a crowning moment.

Xi, 69, stacked his party’s upper levels with lifelong proteges and cronies after the Communist Party’s five-yearly convention.

Xi’s faithful inner circle has cemented his grip on power and China’s future. The country’s trajectory is dictated by one man’s vision and ambition to an extent unprecedented in decades, with little opportunity for conflict or recalibration at the party’s peak.

Xi believes China is closer than ever to “national rejuvenation” and world dominance. At the start and end of the congress, Xi warned of “strong winds, turbulent waters, or even deadly storms” ahead.

According to Xi’s congress work report, “a dismal and complex international situation” with “foreign measures to suppress and contain China” threatening to “escalate at any time” has caused the mounting obstacles.

Observers say Xi’s response to that darker outlook is to fiercely defend China’s national interests and security against all perceived threats.

“Xi may tightly control and be involved in all significant foreign policy choices. Bonny Lin, CSIS China Power Project director, said, “His filling of the top Chinese leadership with loyalists will allow him to better manage and exert influence.”

His actions and methods will affect the world.

Xi begins his third term in a very different world. A trade and tech battle, Taiwan, Covid-19, Beijing’s human rights record, and its failure to criticize Russia’s conflict in Ukraine have ruined US-China ties.

Xi’s five-year action plan, delivered during the congress, noted “drastic changes” in the international scene, including “external attempts to blackmail, contain, blockade, and apply maximum pressure” on China, terminology commonly used by Chinese diplomats to criticize US policies.

“No Limits: The Inside Story of China’s War with the West” author Andrew Small said, “Xi sees China having entered a phase primarily of struggle in the international arena rather than a moment of opportunity.”

Expectations that ties will worsen “is leading in a China that is far more openly engaged in systemic rivalry with the West – greater assertiveness, more blatantly ideologically hostile attitudes, more efforts to establish counter-coalitions, and a broader push to shore up China’s position in the developing world,” he said.

These pressures may affect Beijing’s tight relationship with Moscow. China has endeavored to look impartial in the Ukraine crisis, but it has declined to criticize Russia’s invasion and instead blamed the West for the conflict, a trend that may not alter.

“(Xi) already seems to have written off many of the consequences that emerge from (that relationship) for China’s relations with the West, and Europe in particular,” Small said.

Xi promised in a Sunday broadcast address that China’s door to the globe will “only expand broader” and that its development would “offer greater possibilities for the world.”

“China cannot develop alone, and the world needs China for its development,” he stated.

China is more physically closed than ever. China’s economic growth is hampered by Xi’s expensive zero-Covid policy, which restricts borders and locks down cities.

Xi’s pledge didn’t reassure investors either. Hong Kong, where many of China’s largest corporations are listed, experienced its worst day since the 2008 global financial crisis on Monday. Alibaba and Tencent, China’s two biggest digital companies, fell over 11%, losing $54 billion in market cap.

The world’s second-largest economy’s response to these difficulties is crucial, especially as a worldwide recession looms.

Xi’s apparent interest in integrating domestic and international security could “translate to policies like sanctions against foreign companies, (and) more red tape when there is foreign investment in Chinese technology companies,” according to University of California San Diego elite Chinese politics expert Victor Shih.

In a more divided globe, Beijing may no longer be able to use economic involvement to boost China’s “international position and influence,” particularly through supporting global development.

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