Xi Jinping to have 3rd term as Chinese President

Beijing: Giving Xi Jinping an unprecedented third term in power, the Chinese Communist Party on Saturday endorsed his top position in the country's leadership, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The ruling party of China had gathered for a week in Beijing and, in the end, approved the total reshuffle of the top officials as Premier Li Keqiang also stepped down for Xi to make new allies, AFP report states.

The said weeklong meeting in the capital was a choreographed rubber-stamp meeting attended by 2,300 party delegates, and Xi, avoiding surprises, got a continuance to his leadership for another five years.

However, former leader Hu Jintao was removed from the Great Hall of the People amid the closing ceremony, and no official explanation was issued for that.

A resolution, unanimously passed by all party members, obliged members to "uphold Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole", AFP quoted.

Xi is expected to be proclaimed as general secretary on Sunday after the first meeting of the new Central Committee. The government's annual legislative sessions in March will announce Xi's third term as China's President.

Just before the closing ceremony, a new Central Committee of nearly 200 senior officials were formed. A list of the newly elected officials suggested that four out of seven members of the Party's Standing Committee would retire, and current Premier Li Keqiang and Politburo Standing Committee members Wang Yang, Han Zheng, and Li Zhanshu are among them.