Xi proclaims party 'leader of all' in renewed vision for China and beyond

In the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, few, if any, countries have repudiated the hope that liberal democracy was on an inevitable march across the globe as much as China.

That was on full display Wednesday at the opening of a twice-per-decade congress convened by the Chinese Communist Party. The party will soon surpass its Soviet forebear as the longest-ruling communist party in history. And in case there was any lingering uncertainty about its intended trajectory, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged his comrades not to “mechanically copy the political systems of other countries.” Instead, he said in his opening address, they would work together to