China’s Communist Party Elevates Xi to Mao’s Status

College students in Huaibei, in China's Anhui province, watch President Xi Jinping address the Communist Party congress on Wednesday. (AFP)
College students in Huaibei, in China's Anhui province, watch President Xi Jinping address the Communist Party congress on Wednesday. (AFP)
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China’s Communist Party Elevates Xi to Mao’s Status

College students in Huaibei, in China's Anhui province, watch President Xi Jinping address the Communist Party congress on Wednesday. (AFP)
College students in Huaibei, in China's Anhui province, watch President Xi Jinping address the Communist Party congress on Wednesday. (AFP)

The Chinese Communist Party renewed on Wednesday President Xi Jinping’s mandate as it unveiled its new lineup.

Xi will now embark on a second five-year term after the party’s Central Committee met on Wednesday. The Communist Party had kicked off last week it twice-a-decade national congress.

On Tuesday, the party had already elevated Xi's status at its closing session by inserting his name and dogma into the party's constitution alongside past leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, cementing his status as the most powerful man to head the country in decades.

That move effectively makes any act of opposing him tantamount to an attack on the party itself, largely insulating him from competition among the party's rival factions.

Xi said his return as general secretary constituted "not just approval of my work but also encouragement that will spur me on."

"In this new context, we must get a new look and more importantly, make new accomplishments," he said.

The concept Xi has touted is seen as marking a break from the stage of economic reform ushered in by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s and continued under his successors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.

Xi has spoken of China emerging into a "new normal" of slower, but higher quality economic growth. The placement of Xi's thought among the party's leading guidelines also comes five years into his term — earlier than his predecessors.

"In every sense, the Xi Jinping era has begun in earnest," said Zhang Lifan, an independent political commentator in Beijing. "Only Mao's name was enshrined in the party ideology while he was still alive. We're opening something that hasn't been broached before."

For centuries, Chinese emperors were accorded ritual names that signaled either they were successors in a dynastic line or the founders of an entirely new dynasty. What Xi accomplished this week was a modern equivalent of the latter, Zhang said.

"He wants to join that pantheon of leaders," he said.

Xi has described his concept as central to setting China on the path to becoming a "great modern socialist country" by mid-century. This vision has at its core a ruling party that serves as the vanguard for everything from defending national security to providing moral guidance to ordinary Chinese.

He has set the target date of 2049, the People's Republic's centenary, for the establishment of a prosperous, modern society. China has the world's second-largest economy and legions of newly wealthy urban residents, but raising living standards for millions of people continues to be a challenge.

Xi also unveiled the new seven-strong Politburo Standing Committee, five of whose members were newly appointed on Wednesday.

The makeup of the committee reflects Xi's efforts to foster party unity by striking a balance between different interest groups in the 89-million member organization as he seeks to better position a reinvigorated party to dominate China's affairs at home and abroad.

They will assume responsibility for running the legislature, the National People's Congress and its advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and assume a range of portfolios, including those responsible for propaganda, party discipline, ethnic and Taiwan affairs and science and technology.

The other members are, in order of seniority: Li Zhanshu, director of the party's General Office who serves as Xi's chief of staff; Vice Premier Wang Yang; Wang Huning, director of the party's Central Policy Research Office; Zhao Leji, head of the Central Organization Department responsible for job assignments; and Shanghai party leader Han Zheng, a veteran manager of the country's financial hub.

Zhao is expected to head the much-feared corruption watchdog body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Xi, the son of a Communist elder, has made his wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign the hallmark of his first five years in office. While popular among ordinary Chinese, it is seen as part of a drive to purge his rivals and political opponents and boost supervision over the party at all levels.

Alongside the campaign, Xi has overseen one of the harshest crackdowns on civil society aimed at squelching dissent and activism among lawyers and rights advocates.

The new leaders will face challenges that include reining burgeoning levels of debt seen as the biggest threat to economic stability and managing trade tensions with Washington and Europe over China's excess production of steel and other goods.

They will also have to tackle the risk of war over neighboring ally North Korea's nuclear program, manage the crucial relationship with the US and navigate delicate ties with Southeast Asian nations wary of Beijing's expansion in the disputed South China Sea.

The constitution was also amended to include references to the party's "absolute" leadership over the armed forces, which have been modernizing rapidly under Xi, and a commitment to promote Xi's signature foreign policy and infrastructure initiative known as "One Belt, One Road." That initiative seeks to link China to Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond with a sprawling network of roads, railways, ports and other economic projects.



Trump Tours Texas Flood Sites and Defends Officials amid Mounting Questions About Response

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at Lackland Air Force Base to board Air Force One and return to Washington after visiting Kerrville, Texas where they met with state and local leaders, first responders and victims of last week's flash flooding on July 11, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. (Getty Images/AFP)
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at Lackland Air Force Base to board Air Force One and return to Washington after visiting Kerrville, Texas where they met with state and local leaders, first responders and victims of last week's flash flooding on July 11, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Trump Tours Texas Flood Sites and Defends Officials amid Mounting Questions About Response

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at Lackland Air Force Base to board Air Force One and return to Washington after visiting Kerrville, Texas where they met with state and local leaders, first responders and victims of last week's flash flooding on July 11, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. (Getty Images/AFP)
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at Lackland Air Force Base to board Air Force One and return to Washington after visiting Kerrville, Texas where they met with state and local leaders, first responders and victims of last week's flash flooding on July 11, 2025 in San Antonio, Texas. (Getty Images/AFP)

President Donald Trump on Friday toured the devastation from catastrophic flooding in Texas and lauded state and local officials, even amid mounting criticism that they may have failed to warn residents quickly enough that a deadly wall of water was coming their way.

Trump has repeatedly promised to do away with the Federal Emergency Management Agency as part of his larger pledges to dramatically shrink the size of government, and he's fond of decrying officials in Democrat-run states hit by past natural disasters and tragedy.

But the president struck a far more somber and sympathetic tone while visiting America's largest Republican state, highlighting the heartbreak of what happened while effusively praising elected officials and first responders alike.

"The search for the missing continues. The people that are doing it are unbelievable," Trump, seated with officials around a table with emblazoned with a black-and-white "Texas Strong" banner, said at a makeshift emergency operations center inside an expo hall in Kerrville.

He later added, "You couldn’t get better people, and they’re doing the job like I don’t think anybody else could, frankly."

Since the July 4 disaster, which killed at least 120 people and left more than 170 missing, the president has been conspicuously silent on his past promises to shutter FEMA and return disaster response to the states. Instead, he's focused on the once-in-a-lifetime nature of what occurred in central Texas' Hill Country and its human toll.

"We just visited with incredible families. They’ve been devastated," the president said of a closed-door meeting he and first lady Melania Trump had with the relatives of some of those killed or missing.

Trump’s shift in focus underscores how tragedy can complicate political calculations, even though he has made slashing the federal workforce a centerpiece of his administration’s opening months. He spent a lot of time Friday discussing the victims from Camp Mystic, the century-old all-girls Christian summer camp where at least 27 people were killed.

"They were there because they loved God. And, as we grieve this unthinkable tragedy, we take comfort in the knowledge that God has welcomed those little beautiful girls into his comforting arms in heaven," Trump said.

The first lady described meeting "beautiful young ladies" from the area who she said gave her a "special bracelet from the camp in honor of all the little girls that lost their lives."

"We are here to honor them," she said, promising to return to support the camp in the future.

Before arriving for his tour, Trump approved Texas’ request to extend the major disaster declaration beyond Kerr County to eight additional counties, making them eligible for direct financial assistance to recover and rebuild.

"All across the country Americans’ hearts are shattered. I had to be here as president," he said. "All the beautiful souls, and we’re filled with grief and devastation. This, the loss of life. And unfortunately, they’re still looking."

Trump also tried to steer away from partisanship, even saying at one point, "I don’t want to say politics" while still bragging about reducing the cost of eggs around the country.

He also still insisted his administration "is doing everything it can to help Texas" and "we’ve got some good people" running FEMA. That is nonetheless a far cry from his call mere weeks ago to begin "phasing out" FEMA.

At the White House, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, similarly dodged questions Friday about FEMA’s future. He said that the agency has billions of dollars in reserves "to continue to pay for necessary expenses" and that the president has promised Texas, "Anything it needs, it will get."

"We also want FEMA to be reformed," Vought said. "The president is going to continue to be asking tough questions of all of us agencies, no different than any other opportunity to have better government."

On the ground in devastated communities, meanwhile, some state and local officials have faced questions about how well they were prepared and how quickly they acted, including if warning systems might have given more people time to evacuate.

Asked about such concerns during his appearance at the operations center in Kerrville, Trump called a reporter "evil" and said he thought "everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances."

"I admire you, and I consider you heroes," Trump said of the officials around him.

He also praised a long list of Texas Republicans and had especially kind words for Rep. Chip Roy, who represents some of the hardest-hit areas. A staunch conservative, Roy initially opposed Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending package but ultimately supported it.

"He’s not easy, but he’s good," Trump said of Roy. The congressman, for his part, bristled at questions about authorities' flood response, calling the question about inadequate flood warnings "ridiculous."

The visit began with Air Force One landing in San Antonio and Trump deplaning in a suit while the first lady wore more casual clothing — though both wore ball caps against the heat. The Trumps then boarded a helicopter to Kerrville and saw the flooding aftermath from the air, before meeting with victims' families and first responders.

Roads in the center of town were shut down, and people lined the streets, some wearing Trump hats and T-shirts and waving American flags. Green ribbons recognizing the lives lost at Camp Mystic were tied around trees, poles and along bridges, and marquees featured slogans such as "Hill Country Strong" and "Thank you first responders."

Trump won Kerr County with 77% of the vote last year.

Harris Currie, a rancher from Utopia, Texas, near Kerrville, said the flood devastation can be fully understood only by seeing it first-hand.

"Pictures do not do it justice," Currie said.

Asked what officials on the ground needed most urgently from federal sources, Kerr County Commissioner Jeff Holt, who also is a volunteer firefighter, stressed the need for repairs to nonworking phone towers and "maybe a little better early warning system."

Trump himself has suggested that a warning system should be established, though few details have been offered on what that might eventually entail.

Friday's visit was far different from the other times the first couple visited natural disaster sites, during Trump's first weekend back in the White House in January. They toured North Carolina to scope out damage from Hurricane Helene and saw the aftermath of wildfires in Los Angeles, and the president sharply criticized the administration of his predecessor, President Joe Biden, and officials from deep-blue California.

"We’ll be helping you from Washington, DC, like no other president would," Trump said Friday. "The state of Texas, No. 1 they do it right and they've done it right for a long time. And it's a very special place to me."