When the door to the Golden Hall in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing opened on Sunday afternoon, all eyes were on the man who entered the room behind Xi Jinping.

Li Qiang.

Ironically, the man who, as party leader of Shanghai, is responsible for the disastrous two-month lockdown of the financial metropolis, has risen to number two in the hierarchy of the Communist Party.

He is expected to become the new prime minister in March.

Friederike Böge

Political correspondent for China, North Korea and Mongolia.

  • Follow I follow

The fact that he was chosen says a lot about the course that China has now embarked on.

Li Qiang is not expected to make any impulses of his own in economic policy, for which he will be formally responsible as prime minister.

He is likely to act as a willing helper for Xi Jinping's vision of state-controlled economic policy.

In the country's highest governing body, the Politburo Standing Committee, Xi is now surrounded only by his people.

None of the more moderate and technically qualified contenders whose names had been circulating in recent weeks were considered.

The most important selection criterion was obviously loyalty to the state and party leader.

The quake at the top had already announced itself on Saturday.

The same ritual every five years

Premier Li Keqiang and his former deputy Wang Yang, who had been considered his potential successor, resigned from the Central Committee.

It was clear that they had also lost their seat in the ranks of the seven most powerful men in China.

This was remarkable because they have not yet reached the age limit of 68 years that has been in force up to now.

Li Keqiang and Wang Yang stood for a pragmatic, business-friendly course.

They are now history, even if Li Keqiang remains prime minister until March.

It had been foreseeable for a long time that Xi Jinping would get his third term in office.

The decision marks a turning point in the country's history.

His predecessors had established the unwritten rule that the party leader would hand over his post to a successor after two terms in office.

In doing so, they wanted to prevent a relapse into the one-man tyranny that the country had experienced under Mao.

The principle of collective leadership and the prohibition of personality cults also served this purpose.

Xi Jinping abolished all of that.

The efforts of the past decades to institutionalize control mechanisms have proven to be too weak to withstand Xi Jinping's will to power.

It is his position as CP General Secretary that makes him China's supreme leader.

It is expected that he will also be confirmed as head of state in March.

The post has only ceremonial significance.

Xi Jinping needs it above all so that he can be received with the full ceremonial of a state visit when traveling abroad.

Every five years, the chair-shifting at the top of the party takes place according to the same ritual.

A day after the party congress, the new Central Committee met on Sunday and confirmed the 24 members of the Politburo previously selected in secret negotiations.

The seven leaders were recruited from their ranks.

The result of the power haggling was only revealed to the public when the door to the Golden Hall opened and the seven men appeared in front of the press.

The order in which they appeared marked their rank in the hierarchy.

As always, the men lined up evenly distributed on the stage.

The corresponding places were marked on the carpet with small red stars.

Xi briefly introduced his "comrades".

The men bowed.