China’s five-yearly congress of the ruling Communist Party will start on October 18th. Some 2,300 hand-picked delegates will select 200 members of the 400-member Central Committee, which will, in turn, choose roughly 10 of the 25-member Politburo. Most attention will focus on who makes it into the Politburo’s Standing Committee. Five of its seven members are due to retire, including Xi’s supporter Wang Qishan.
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For President Xi, this is an opportunity to install loyalists and shore up his legacy. Who gets promoted and who doesn’t could have a significant global impact, as the world’s second-largest economy posts its slowest pace of
growth in a quarter of a century.