Communist Party leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday unveiled the lineup of the party's highest body who will rule alongside him as he embarks on a second five-year term as party leader, CTV news reported Wednesday.

As expected, Xi was given a renewed mandate following the first meeting Wednesday of the new Central Committee that was elected at the party's twice-a-decade national congress.

The party elevated Xi's status by inserting his name and dogma into the party's constitution alongside past leaders Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, cementing his status as the country's most powerful leader 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 also continues to sit atop the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, five of whose members were newly appointed on Wednesday.

Source: MENA