Today, the new supreme leadership of Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping's third term is officially inaugurated.

Mr. Xi broke with the convention that the term of office of the General Secretary is limited to two terms of ten years, and broke the age limit that anyone over 68 years old at the time of the Party Congress must retire. This overturned a system introduced after the Cultural Revolution to prevent the concentration of autocratic power in specific person.

In addition, when we pay our attention to the age of the persons elected to the Supreme Leadership we find that the youngest person elected was 60-year-old Ding Xuexiang.

If the General Secretary leave the position after the end of the next congress and the limitation of the term of the General Secretary will be reinstated, but the age limit of 68 years or older to retire will be reinstated, it means that no one in the new supreme leadership will be able to serve a full term, 10 years.

It can be inferred that this appointment was a stepping stone for Xi Jinping to further extend his term of office "due to lack of suitable candidates" at the next Chinese Communist Party Congress.

On the other hand, the increasing concentration of power in Mr. Xi's hands will hinder the development of his successor. When he steps down as supreme power at some point, the absence of a new person with the experience and cultivated ability to lead the country could be a destabilising factor for China in the long run.

The practice of setting the term of office of the General Secretary at two terms of 10 years and retiring from the supreme leadership at the age of 68 is not only a reflection of the Cultural Revolution, but also a device to ensure the stability and continuity of China's distinctive system of the Communist Party of China leading the state.

Of course, not naming a clear successor or having no successor envisaged, is nothing more than a measure taken by Mr. Xi to ensure that the next generation of candidates compete with each other and increase their loyalty to him.

Moreover, his power and authority are so high that he breaks with past conventions.

However, if his own exit would cause chaos in Chinese politics, the top leader would be impeding the stable development of the country for his own honour.

For this reason, it will be interesting to see how Mr. Xi Jinping will train his successor and what the next generation of leaders will look like in the future.

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3期目に入った習近平政権の持つ意味は何か

本日、中国の習近平氏が3期目の指導部を発足させた。最高指導者の任期は2期10年とし、党大会実施時に68歳以上の者は引退するという慣例を破った習氏の今後の政権運営がどのようになるか注目される。