China’s Xi Jinping names Cabinet; no clear successor

China’s President Xi Jinping pledged to spearhead the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” Wednesday, as he began his second term as the country’s leader. However, he broke with tradition by omitting to name a clear successor for president, bolstering his grip on power for the next five years.

Xi, 64, named the six other members of the Cabinet, the all-male ruling Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

There was no successor from the Cabinet because the committee's members — between 60 and 67 years of age — are too old to take over after the end of Xi’s second term in 2022. Whoever takes over must run the country for 10 years. Xi and Premier Li Keqiang, 62 retained their roles on the committee, China’s most important ruling body.

Xi’s intentions post-2022 weren’t immediately clear.

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“Here, on behalf of the newly elected central leadership, I wish to express our heartfelt thanks to all other members of the party for the trust they have placed in us. We will work diligently to meet our duty, fulfil our mission and be worthy of their trust,” Xi said in a speech to mark the beginning of his second term.

The Communist Party voted Tuesday to elevate Xi to the revered status of icons Deng Xiaoping, who ushered in ushered economic reforms in the late 1970s and Mao Zedong, founder of the Communist state in 1949, by adding his name and ideology to its constitution.