China's new elite Communist Party leadership

Xi Jinping on Sunday secured a third term as leader of China's ruling Communist Party and unveiled a seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, which he heads, that will determine the path of the country's development in the next five years.

Below are the personnel elected on Sunday by the Central Committee, the biggest of the party's top decision-making bodies, to the pinnacle of China's political power.

Apart from Xi, the new Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) saw the return of two other members to the seven-person group - Zhao Leji and Wang Huning.

Premier Li Keqiang, who had held the number two PSC position after the 2012 and 2017 party congresses, was not in the new PSC as expected, after exiting the bigger Central Committee on Saturday.

Replacing him is Li Qiang, party chief of Shanghai. Joining him in the PSC were Cai Qi, party chief of Beijing; Ding Xuexiang, effectively Xi's chief-of-staff; and Li Xi, party chief of Guangdong. The four men were in the 25-person Politburo formed after the 2017 congress.

General Secretary of the Central Committee:

Xi Jinping

Standing Committee of the Political Bureau, or Politburo, of the Central Committee (seven members):

Xi Jinping, 69

Li Qiang, 63

Zhao Leji, 65

Wang Huning, 67

Cai Qi, 66

Ding Xuexiang, 60

Li Xi, 66

The Politburo, the second-highest decision-making body in the party, shrank to 24 members from 25, with no woman in the group for the first time in years, as Vice Premier Sun Chunlan retired.

Also prominently dropped from the Politburo was Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, 59, who was previously considered a contender to become the next premier. Hu remains in the larger Central Committee.

Politburo of the Central Committee (24 members, including PSC members):

Wang Yi, 69, state councillor and foreign minister

Zhang Youxia, 72, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission

He Weidong, 65, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission

He Lifeng, 65, head of the National Development and Reform Commission

Chen Wenqing, 62, party chief of ministry of state security

Huang Kunming, 65, head of the Central Committee's propaganda department

Li Shulei, 58, deputy head of the Central Committee's propaganda department

Shi Taifeng, 66, member of the Central Committee's Secretariat

Chen Miner, 62, party chief of Chongqing

Ma Xingrui, 63, party chief of Xinjiang

Yuan Jiajun, 60, party chief of Zhejiang

Yin Li, 60, party chief of Fujian

Li Ganjie, 57, party chief of Shandong

Liu Guozhong, 60, party chief of Shaanxi

Zhang Guoqing, 58, party chief of Liaoning

Li Hongzhong, 66, party chief of Tianjin

Chen Jining, 58, mayor of Beijing

Central Military Commission Chairman:

Xi Jinping

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Secretary:

Li Xi