<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>China's five-yearly Communist Party Congress wrapped up on Saturday with President Xi Jinping set to emerge from the event as leader for an unprecedented third term.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Xi delivered a speech starting about midday (0400 GMT) in one of the final events of the week-long gathering at Beijing's Great Hall of the People.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Dare to struggle, dare to win, bury your heads and work hard. Be determined to keep forging ahead," he told the party faithful.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">His speech ended a week of largely rubber-stamp meetings among 2,300 party delegates, who were selected by the party to approve a reshuffle of its leadership.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However in an unexpected move at such a heavily choreographed event, former leader Hu Jintao was led out of the closing ceremony. No official explanation was given.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The new Central Committee of around 200 senior Party officials was elected shortly after 11 am Saturday, state media agency Xinhua reported, without disclosing a full list of members.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Delegates also voted to endorse Xi's "work report" delivered at the Congress's opening last Sunday and a resolution on the Party's constitution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Xi is now widely expected to be unveiled as general secretary on Sunday, shortly after the first meeting of the new Central Committee.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This will allow Xi to sail through to a third term as China's president, due to be announced during the government's annual legislative sessions in March.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Xi previously abolished the presidential two-term limit in 2018, paving the way for him to rule indefinitely.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The weekend will also see the new Central Committee approve a reshuffled 25-member Politburo, as well as a Politburo Standing Committee -- China's apex of power -- of around seven people, which analysts expect to be stacked with Xi allies.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At Sunday's Congress opening ceremony, Xi delivered a 105-minute speech lauding the party's achievements and glossing over domestic problems such as the stalling economy and the damage wrought by his harsh zero-Covid policy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Heavy on ideological rhetoric and light on policy, a defiant Xi also urged Communist Party members to steel themselves against numerous challenges including a hardening geopolitical climate.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We must... be ready to withstand high winds, choppy waters and even dangerous storms," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Confronted with drastic changes in the international landscape, especially external attempts to blackmail, contain, (and) blockade... China, we have put our national interests first."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Security was also a main focus of the speech, in which Xi lauded Hong Kong's transition from "chaos to governance" and vowed to "never commit to abandoning the use of force" to seize the self-ruled Taiwan. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>