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Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Aronovich. We're in a room and we get briefed.

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This week we'll be talking about China.

But Catalonia is back in the news and if you haven't already, you might find our podcast on that, a useful primer on why independence is such a problem.

Thank you. on why independence is such a problem. The Chinese nation now stands tall and firm in the east.

So said the country's president Xi Jinping this week.

On Wednesday, the Chinese Communist Party

started its Congress, held every five years. After a week of meetings, a new generation of

political leaders will be unveiled. Most will be ardent supporters of President Xi, who is about

to be accorded the unusual honour of being allowed to announce his own doctrine,

Xi Jinping thought. Where will that thought take him and his huge strategically essential country?

And how might this affect the rest of the world? Step into the briefing room to find out.

First into the briefing room, I've invited the economist's China editor, James Miles,

to explain who exactly Xi Jinping is and how he got to be so powerful.

Xi Jinping is an extremely powerful leader, and I think it's fair to say that he's the most powerful leader we've had in China since the days of Mao Zedong.

Xi Jinping has rewritten the rules of Chinese politics, and now we see

Xi Jinping controlling absolutely everything.

He comes from a family that was closely associated with Mao Zedong when he came to power in

1949.

...