19th CPC Party Congress: As President Xi Jinping Begins His Final Term

The Communist Party of China met on October 18, 2017 in its five-yearly congress.

China has begun another journey in its seamless transitions from one administration to another. The Communist Party of China, CPC, on October 18, 2017 began meeting in Beijing in its 19^th national congress that marks the start of President Xi Jinping’s second and last five-year term in office. The world’s eyes are now on China to decipher who has been groomed to succeed Xi in 2022 at the 20^th party congress as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President.  

China is not only member of the United Nations Security Council, the world’s populous country, but more importantly the world’s second largest economy. It is Africa’s biggest trade, investment and major infrastructure finance partner. President Xi Jinping at the 2015 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, FOCAC summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, announced 60 billion US dollars to assist in the continent’s development in the following three years. The programme, which has seen the development of major connectivity infrastructure in the past two years like rail lines, ports, hydro dams, roads and stadia, ends next year.

To Africa, Xi’s final term in office will be one of consolidation of cooperation relations. Apart from bilateral deals that have seen China undertake major infrastructure projects in most African nations, the Chinese are also helping to construct industrial parks for massive absorption of the continent’s young unemployed. This is the case with Kenya, Ethiopia, and most recently Congo Brazzaville where the Chinese are building two industrial parks. A major shoe industrial plant is due to commence in eastern Nigeria soon.