China to witness massive change as Xi Jinping may retire after…, but where is Chinese president?

New Delhi: Chinese President Xi Jinping has now started assigning powers and authorities to key organs of the ruling Community Party. This has not only further fuelled the speculations that he may be preparing for a possible retirement but that he may be laying out the groundwork for an orderly power transition or scaling back his role in preparation for retirement, a first in his over 12-year rule, according a PTI report.

June 30 meeting of CPC

Assumptions were being made about his retirement after state-run Xinhua news agency reported that the powerful 24-member Political Bureau of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), in its meeting on June 30, reviewed a set of new regulations on the work of party’s institutions, the report said.

Jinping himself headed the meeting where he stressed that the regulations will further standardise the establishment, responsibilities, and operations of the CPC Central Committee’s decision-making, deliberative, and coordinating institutions.

“Such institutions should exercise more effective leadership and coordination over major tasks and focus on planning, discussing, and overseeing major tasks”, said the Xinhua report.

What do experts say?

Some experts assert that Jinping, regarded as the most powerful leader after CPC founder Mao Zedong, and as a leader for life, may be delegating some powers to focus on larger issues.

“It does seem that Xi might pay less attention to day-to-day details, which necessitates a policing mechanism to ensure that his policy priorities are still being carried out by lower-level officials,” said Victor Shih, a specialist in Chinese elite politics and finance at the University of California San Diego, while talking to South China Morning Post.

The speculations started doing the rounds after Jinping did not make any public appearance between May 21 and June 5.

Xi Jinping, who is considered a superpower in China, did not attend the BRICS summit being held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from Sunday, 06 July 2025. This happened for the first time since he took office.

Analysts say his plan to remain in power or share power was expected to unravel before or during the next five-year congress of the CPC to be held in 2027, by which time his third term will end, the PTI report said.

(With PTI inputs)

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