Xi re-elected China s President sans term limit (Lead)

Beijing March 17 (IANS) China s largely ceremonial parliament on Saturday re-elected Xi Jinping as the country s President and appointed his aide and once feared anti-graft body s chief Wang Qishan as Vice President.

The 64-year-old Xi s re-election was a mere formality as the National People s Congress - China s top legislature - on March 11 abolished from the Constitution the two-term limit for President and Vice President.

Even if the cap was not removed Xi would have continued as this would have been his second term.

Xi who became China s President in 2013 was also re-elected as the Chairman of China s Central Military Commission that controls the world s largest standing army.

Like Xi s re-election Wang s appointment was no surprise as he enjoys the President s patronage.

Wang 69 said to be Xi s most trusted aide spearheaded an anti-graft campaign which made him China s most feared man.

The association between Xi and Wang goes back to Mao Zedong s Cultural Revolution when both were sent to a village in Shanxi province for hard labour.

While all 2 970 lawmakers voted in favour of Xi only one voted against Wang s election.

Like the President the post of the Vice President is largely ceremonial but Wang s election is his return to power politics.

Xi is more powerful as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China than him being the President of the world s most populous country.

Last year Wang exited from the Communist Party s seven-member Standing Committee as 68 is the retirement age in the body which rules the country.

Despite being in a ceremonial post and not being in any of the powerful bodies of the ruling party Wang will remain powerful.

Wang may well be called Xi s deputy and may get to handle China s turbulent ties with the US after Donald Trump s election as President.

--IANS
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