Xi Jinping Reveals New Leadership Team

China’s President Xi Jinping is here to stay.

The new lineup for the Chinese Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) was unveiled Wednesday, without an heir apparent to Xi, who analysts predict will continue to dominate the country’s politics for decades to come, CNN reported.

Of the five new faces in the seven-member committee, the youngest will be 65 in 2022—when Xi finishes his second term as leader—just three years off the informal retirement age for top officials.

“It’s certainly not a team of rivals. This is a team of advisers,” said James McGregor, an author wrioting on China. “It’s all about Xi Jinping, it’s about his power.”

He predicted Xi will “remain in some form of power probably until he dies,” pointing to Deng Xiaoping, who retired from official positions but remained “paramount leader” until his death in 1997.

Xi himself was 54 when he joined the standing committee in 2007. Chen Min’er, 57, a rising star in the Communist Party, was admitted to the 25-member Politburo, one rung below the PBSC, but not the top body.

“Xi Jinping will (likely) stay on as party secretary and then party chairman, and someone else will become president,” McGregor said. “We’re into a new game here.”

The new standing committee line-up was revealed in a highly choreographed ceremony at Beijing’s imposing Great Hall of the People.

Xi and Premier Li Keqiang, the only members of the previous standing committee not to retire, were joined by Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng.

The announcement follows the end of the Communist Party National Congress, the biggest event in China’s political calendar, which is held every five years.

“Over the past five years we have set out a broad agenda, some tasks have been completed while others need more work,” Xi said after introducing the new committee.