Top Communist Party leaders wrapped up a key meeting in Beijing by passing an important resolution on the party's past, state media said Thursday, which is expected to cement President Xi Jinping's legacy in Chinese history books.
Xi, the uncontested leader of the world's most populous nation, has been heading a pivotal plenary of the ruling party's top figures since Monday in the Chinese capital.
Some 400 members of the powerful Central Committee passed China's resolution on "Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party's Centennial Struggle", the third ever such resolution in its 100-year history.
The lengthy report called for upholding "the correct view of party history", said official news agency Xinhua, adding that the party has "written the most magnificent epic in the history of the Chinese nation for thousands of years".
"The Party Central Committee called on the entire party, the entire army and people of all ethnic groups to unite more closely around the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, to fully implement Xi Jinping’s new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics," the document read.
This year's plenum paves the way for the 20th party congress next autumn, at which Xi is widely expected to be handed a third term in office, securing his position as China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.
Analysts say the resolution will help Xi shore up his grip on power by setting in stone his vision for China ahead of next year's congress.
Xi's tenure has been marked by a sprawling anti-corruption crackdown, repressive policies in regions like Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, and an increasingly assertive approach to foreign relations.
He has also created a leadership cult that has quashed criticism,