Behind closed doors in Beijing, the Communist Party’s Central Committee is meeting at the Jingxi Hotel to refine a plan for China’s next five years. Xi Jinping has led China for nearly 13 years and shows no sign of stepping down or designating a successor. That silence is the story. With each year that passes, uncertainty deepens over who would take charge in a crisis and whether a future leader would continue Xi’s hard-line course or chart a different path, the New York Times reported.

Why succession is so sensitive

For a dominant leader, naming an heir risks creating a rival centre of power; not naming one risks instability and undermines a legacy. Xi has long emphasized loyalty, often citing the Soviet lesson of elevating reformer Mikhail Gorbachev. His intolerance for perceived dislo

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