China unveils new leadership line-up
Xi, Premier Li Keqiang only two Standing Committee members to remain
BEIJING: China’s ruling Communist Party broke with recent precedent yesterday, unveiling a new leadership line-up without a clear successor to President Xi Jinping, who has become arguably the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.
Xi led his team in order of rank on to a stage at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, overlooking Tiananmen Square, culminating a week-long party conclave at which he laid out his vision for an increasingly prosperous China confident of its place on the world stage.
Apart from Xi, Premier Li Keqiang was the only one to retain his spot amid sweeping changes on the Politburo Standing Committee. There has been persistent speculation Xi could seek to stay on in some capacity beyond the end of his customary second five years in power, which began yesterday.
All seven Standing Committee members are men in their 60s and, for the first time, none was born before China’s 1949 Communist revolution.
The make-up of the committee, which has ultimate control over the world’s second-largest economy, appeared to be a compromise to include a blend of Xi allies and those considered loyal to party elders, including Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, former presidents whose networks still wield influence.
Cheng Li, an expert on Chinese politics at the Brookings Institution, said Xi appeared to have traded securing favourable amendments to the constitution in exchange for a compromise on the make-up of the Standing Committee, a line-up he likened to a ‘team of rivals’.
The member considered closest to Xi is Li Zhanshu, who has often accompanied Xi on overseas trips in a chief-of-staff-style role as the head the party’s General Office.
Li, who is not related to the premier, was named the thirdranked member, meaning he will most likely assume the role of head of the largely rubber-stamp parliament. That will not be confirmed until parliament meets in March.
Xi had already strengthened his hand considerably ahead of the announcement, with his political theory and ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure-led development strategy put into the party constitution. He was named the party’s ‘core’ last year.
Guangdong party secretary Hu Chunhua and Chongqing party boss Chen Miner had been previously seen as prominent contenders to succeed Xi among the party’s so-called sixth generation of leaders but were not included in the Standing Committee. Instead, both were named to the wider 25-member Politburo, a rung below the Standing Committee.
He’s consolidated his power without making unnecessary problems for himself. David Zweig, a professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology