BEIJING (HRNW) – Beijing has stepped up security and COVID curbs and decorated the capital with red political banners as it gears up for a Communist Party congress where President Xi Jinping is poised to become China s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.
The 20th party congress, which opens on Oct. 16, occurs every five years and brings together 2,300 party members, mostly behind closed doors, at the vast Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square.
Beijing has hired extra security personnel, according to procurement tenders, including 42 guards to keep 24-hour watch on “key people”, a term authorities use to describe individuals deemed to be troublemakers, from Oct. 6-23.
This week, dozens of additional security personnel stood at regular intervals along Chang an Avenue, the main east-west road through the centre of Beijing.
Shops that provide photocopying services have been told to deny service to petitioners, who tend to gather in Beijing when it holds important meetings.