Xi Jingping has been elected as general secretary of the Communist Party of China, a decade-long post that will also see him take up the presidency in March.
The 59-year-old follows in the impressive footsteps of the incumbent president Hu Jintao, who has generated unprecedented amounts of economic growth in the country.
China’s new leader promised that he would do everything in his power to live up to the trust of the people.
“Our responsibility now is to rally and lead the entire party and the people of all ethnic groups in China in taking up this historic baton and in making continued efforts to achieve the great renewal of the Chinese nation,” he said.
Some of the challenges facing Mr Xi include cracking down on corruption, closing the gap in wealth between the rich and the poor and ensuring China’s economy is robust enough to keep growing, regardless of how other economies around the world are fairing.
Joining him on stage at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, where the party was holding its 18th Congress, were members of the new Politburo Standing Committee, which is now made up of five people..
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