As Xi Jinping enters third term, who will be China’s next diplomats?

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to cement his power with a third term as secretary general of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is hosting its 20th national congress on Sunday. This places Xi in the pantheon of the organisation’s greats alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

All power emanates from the secretary-general role. Xi’s triumph is as much about the all-powerful CPP, whose grip over the country remains vice-like, as it is about him. Yet under Xi, while the nation’s rise has gathered pace, China’s internal problems have also multiplied.

The congress is the apogee of the CCP’s five-year cycle, which sees more than 2000 delegates convene at the Stalinist edifice the Great Hall of the People at the eastern side of Tiananmen Square.