Who’s on China’s new Politburo Standing Committee? | Xi Jinping News
The Chinese Communist Party has unveiled its new Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), a seven-member group that represents the apex of political power in China.
Led by the CCP’s Secretary General and China’s President Xi Jinping, the elite committee, which was appointed following a week-long Congress of the governing party, is the highest decision-making body in the country.
All of the committee’s members are Xi’s proteges and allies.
“The new Politburo Standing Committee confirms decisively that Xi has consolidated power at the top of the Communist Party to an extent unseen since the Mao era,” Neil Thomas, a senior China analyst at Eurasia Group, told AFP news agency, referring to China’s founding leader Mao Zedong.
“Xi has installed allies onto all seats of the Communist Party’s top decision-making body, allowing him to dominate the political system for the foreseeable future.”
Below are the men who will rule China for the next five years, in order of seniority.
Xi Jinping
The 69-year-old was re-elected as general secretary of the Communist Party, paving the way for him to secure a third term as Chinese president at the government’s annual legislative sessions next March.
Xi abolished the presidential two-term limit in 2018, paving the way for him to govern indefinitely.
First appointed as the CCP’s general secretary in 2012, Xi has consolidated power through a sweeping anti-corruption campaign, reasserted the role of the state sector in the economy, expanded the military and led crackdowns on civil rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
His third term is being dubbed a return to one-man rule after a period of more collegial decision-making.
Li Qiang
Li Qiang has been party secretary of Shanghai, China’s largest city and financial hub, since 2017.
His promotion to number two in the party hierarchy makes it likely that he will be named premier at next March’s legislative sessions.
It would be an unusual appointment since Li, unlike most past premiers, does not have experience as a vice premier managing central government portfolios.
The 63-year-old rising star’s prospects were seemingly in doubt after he bungled a harsh two-month lockdown of Shanghai earlier this year that saw residents left lacking access to food and medical care.
This “showcases to everyone that loyalty rather than popularity is the key for your promotion”, tweeted Yang Zhang, an assistant professor at American University in Washington. “The disaster of Shanghai Lockdown did not stop Li’s elevation precisely because he followed Xi’s order despite all criticism.”
Li is viewed as one of Xi’s favourites, having served as the leader’s chief of staff while he was party boss of the affluent Zhejiang province between 2004 and 2007.
Zhao Leji
Since 2017, Zhao Leji has run the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party’s much-feared body for policing corruption and other malfeasance.
That has made him a key figure in Xi’s campaign to bring party members in line that has at times been characterised as a vehicle for eliminating opponents and instilling loyalty.
Zhao, 65, is now in line to head the National People’s Congress, the largely ceremonial legislature that meets in full session just once a year and whose deliberations are mainly carried out behind closed doors by its smaller standing committee.
The experienced administrator has been party secretary of two provinces and a Politburo member since 2012.
Wang Huning
Longtime party political theorist Wang Huning has been a member of the Politburo Standing Committee since 2017 and moves up from the fifth position, reflecting his status as one of Xi’s most important advisers.
Dubbed the “brains behind the throne”, the 67-year-old former university professor has devised ideologies for three current and former Chinese presidents, and is the architect of Xi’s “China Dream” slogan, as well as the country’s more assertive foreign policy.
In one of his most famous works, America Against America, he argued for the United States’s inevitable downfall due to wayward cultural values like decadence and individualism.
Cai Qi
Current Beijing party chief Cai Qi has been promoted to the Standing Committee and becomes the head of the General Secretariat, managing the day-to-day affairs of the party, according to a member list released by the Xinhua news agency.
The 66-year-old is seen as a close political ally of Xi due to his time working under him in the provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian.
His time in office has been more varied and challenging than some of his predecessors. He brought the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics in on time and with relatively little disruption and has carried out Xi’s “zero-COVID” strategy without causing the sort of massive upheaval seen in Shanghai.
The Fujian native is considered one of the party’s leading intellectuals, having earned a doctorate in political economy from Fujian Normal University, while also proving himself a competent manager.
Ding Xuexiang
As head of the General Office since 2017, Ding Xuexiang holds one of the most important bureaucratic positions in the party, with sweeping control over information and access to officials.
That implies that Xi puts a high degree of trust in him and Ding is often among the few officials attending sensitive meetings alongside the general secretary. That has earned him the sobriquets “Xi’s alter ego” and “Xi’s chief of staff”.
The 60-year-old has never served as a provincial-level party boss or governor, making his appointment effectively a reward for his loyalty to Xi.
The pair became close while Ding served in the Shanghai party committee – Xi was Shanghai’s top party boss in 2007-2008 – and he moved to Beijing to work as Xi’s personal secretary in 2013.
“If Xi’s two secretaries lead the [government] State Council… it will no longer be parallel with the Party, but simply one [of] many institutions under the leadership of the Party, and of Xi,” tweeted Zhang.
Li Xi
The current Politburo member and party chief of economic powerhouse Guangdong province has been promoted to the Standing Committee, in an appointment widely anticipated by observers.
Li, 66, was confirmed as head of the powerful Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party’s powerful anti-graft watchdog, in a list released by Xinhua.
Li is regarded as a confidant of Xi, having known him since the 1980s after working as secretary for a close ally of Xi’s father, revolutionary leader Xi Zhongxun. He also built up a power base in Shaanxi, Xi’s ancestral province.
