London: Confirmation of Xi Jinping's third term will be an ominous moment not only for China but for the world, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director Hana Young has said.

This comment comes as the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) opened at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday. The week-long event will conclude on October 22 which is likely to confirm Xi Jinping as CCP General Secretary for a third term.

"Confirmation of Xi Jinping's third term will be an ominous moment not only for the millions of Chinese citizens who have suffered grave human rights violations under his rule, but also for people around the world who feel the impact of the Chinese government's repression," Hana Young said in a statement on October 15.

"President Xi's decade in power has been characterized by sweeping arbitrary detentions, a ruthless nationwide crackdown on freedom of expression and association, crimes against humanity against Muslims in the Xinjiang region, and a dramatic escalation of repression in Hong Kong," she added.

Further slamming China's repressive policies, Young said the government's policies and practices under Xi's leadership pose a threat to rights not just at home, but globally.

"From the government's campaign to silence and forcibly repatriate Uyghurs overseas to its attempts to redefine the very meaning of human rights at the United Nations, the arm of Chinese state repression increasingly extends beyond China's borders," she added.

On Sunday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping opened the ruling Communist Party's twice-a-decade National Congress. Analysts say that Chairman Xi Jinping will undoubtedly extend his term in power for another five years.

He will either be re-elected as general secretary of the CCP or will be newly elected as chairman of the CCP, a title that has lain dormant since 1982 and was once the highest position ever held by Mao Zedong.

The congress is taking place at one of the most perilous periods in international affairs in recent years. A war is raging in Ukraine as President Vladimir Putin attempts to burnish his credentials as a great Russian leader, and China remains a staunch supporter of this would-be tsar.

At the same time, Taiwan Strait tensions are at their highest in decades, as China attempts to pummel Taipei into acquiescence.

Moreover, diplomatic tensions with the US, the after-effects of a global pandemic and China's own paranoid efforts to stamp out COVID-19, and all the ingredients for a brewing storm are present.