China's Xi Jinping secured a precedent-breaking third leadership term on Sunday and introduced a top governing body stacked with loyalists, cementing his place as the country's most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong, Reuters reported:

''Xi faces stiff challenges as the world's second-largest economy slows and frustration over his zero-COVID policy grows. China is also increasingly estranged from the West, exacerbated by Xi's support for Russia's Vladimir Putin and mounting tensions over Taiwan.''

"This is a leadership that will be focused on achieving Xi’s political goals, rather than pursuing their own agendas for what they think is best for the country," said Drew Thompson, a visiting senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. "There is only one correct way to govern, and that is Xi’s way."