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Tag: Hu Jintao

  • Hu Jintao Fast Facts | CNN

    Hu Jintao Fast Facts | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Here is a look at the life of Hu Jintao, former president of the People’s Republic of China.

    Birth date: December 21, 1942

    Birth place: Jixi, Anhui Province, China

    Birth name: Hu Jintao

    Father: Hu Jingzhi, a merchant

    Mother: Li Wenrui

    Marriage: Liu Yongqing

    Children: Hu Haifeng; Hu Haiqing

    Education: Tsinghua University, 1964

    Is the first Chinese leader to start his political career after the 1949 Communist revolution.

    1964 – Joins the Communist Party of China (CPC).

    1964-1965 – Postgraduate and political instructor at Tsinghua University in the Water Conservancy Engineering Department.

    1965-1968 – Works in research and development (R&D) and as a political instructor at Tsinghua University in the Water Conservancy Engineering Department.

    1968-1974 – Works for the Ministry of Water Conservancy, post-Cultural Revolution.

    1974-1982 – Works for the Gansu Provincial Construction Committee in several positions, eventually becoming vice chairman.

    1982-1985 – Works for the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League of China, eventually becoming its leader.

    1985-1988 – Rises to Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee.

    1987-1992 – Member of the 13th CPC Central Committee.

    1988-1992 – Secretary of the Party Committee of Tibet Autonomous Region.

    1989 – Uses the Chinese military to stamp out Tibetan protests against China’s rule.

    1992-1997 – Member of the 14th CPC Central Committee, the Politburo and the Standing Committee.

    1993-2002 – President CPC, Central Committee’s Central Party School.

    1997-2002 – Member of the 15th CPC Central Committee, the Politburo, the Standing Committee and later the Secretariat. Also becomes vice chairman of the 15th CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission.

    1998-2003 – Vice president of the People’s Republic of China.

    1999-2002 – Vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC.

    2002 – Becomes a member of the 16th CPC Central Committee, the Politburo and the Standing Committee. Later becomes General Secretary of the 16th CPC Central Committee.

    2002-2004 – Vice chairman 16th CPC Central Committee and Central Military Commission.

    2002-2005 – Vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC.

    November 2002 – Succeeds Jiang Zemin as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.

    March 15, 2003 – Elected president of the People’s Republic of China.

    September 19, 2004 – Chairman of the 16th CPC Central Committee and the Central Military Commission.

    March 13, 2005 – Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC.

    April 2006 – Makes first state visit to the United States; meets with US President George W. Bush to discuss trade and North Korea.

    January 30-February 10, 2007 – Makes an eight-nation tour through Africa. During the trip, Hu negotiates more than $1 billion of trade deals, loans and debt cancellations with countries such as Liberia, Sudan and South Africa.

    May 7, 2008 – Makes the first visit to Japan by a Chinese leader in 10 years.

    November 18-19, 2008 – Hu makes a two-day visit to Cuba. He meets with former President Fidel Castro and promises that China will provide Cuba with $78 million in donations and credit.

    April 1, 2009 – Meets US President Barack Obama for the first time during economic summit in London.

    January 18-21, 2011 – Travels to the United States for a four-day visit. The visit includes a state dinner at the White House.

    November 15, 2012 – Steps down as General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC).

    March 14, 2013 – Formally steps down as president of the People’s Republic of China.

    October 22, 2022 – At a key Communist Party Congress, Hu is repeatedly prevented from looking at official documents in front of him. Following a series of exchanges between senior party leaders, he is then escorted out. As Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to begin a norm-breaking third term, Chinese state media on Twitter claim that Hu’s removal is due to ill-health.

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  • Late Chinese leader Jiang hailed in memorial service

    Late Chinese leader Jiang hailed in memorial service

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    BEIJING — China’s communist leaders eulogized the late leader Jiang Zemin on Tuesday as a loyal Marxist-Leninist who oversaw their country’s rapid economic rise while maintaining rigid party control over society.

    President and party leader Xi Jinping praised Jiang in an hour-long address at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People as senior officials and military brass stood at attention.

    Xi recalled Jiang’s lengthy political career, emphasizing his role in maintaining political stability in allusion to Jiang’s rise to be top leader just ahead of the army’s bloody suppression of the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

    Jiang died at age 96, just days after China’s largest street protests since 1989, which were driven by anger over draconian COVID-19 restrictions. Acting to quell the protests, authorities flooded city streets with security personnel and an unknown number of people have been detained.

    Those attending Tuesday’s memorial observed three minutes of silence and trading was paused on the country’s stock exchanges.

    On Monday, state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi, his predecessor Hu Jintao and others bowing before Jiang’s coffin at a military hospital in Beijing before his body was sent for cremation at the Babaoshan cemetery, where many Chinese leaders are interred.

    Jiang led China out of diplomatic isolation over the 1989 crackdown and supported economic reforms that spurred a decade of explosive growth. The economy has slowed as it matures and confronts an aging population, trade sanctions, high unemployment and the fallout from lockdowns and other anti-COVID-19 restrictions imposed by Xi.

    A trained engineer and former head of China’s largest city, Shanghai, Jiang was president for a decade, and led the ruling Communist Party for 13 years until 2002. After taking over from reformist leader Deng Xiaoping, he oversaw the handover of Hong Kong from British rule in 1997 and Beijing’s entry into the World Trade Organization in 2001.

    Jiang died of leukemia and multiple organ failure on Nov. 30 in Shanghai, state media reported. The party declared him a “great proletarian revolutionary” and “long-tested Communist fighter.”

    Hu’s appearance was his first in public since Oct. 22, when he was unexpectedly guided off the stage during the closing ceremony of the national congress of the Communist Party.

    No official explanation was given, and speculation over his abrupt departure has ranged from a health crisis to a signal of protest by the 79-year-old former leader against Xi, who has eliminated term limits on his position and appointed loyalists to all top positions.

    In Hong Kong, officials, lawmakers and judges observed three minutes of silence Tuesday morning.

    The Hong Kong Stock Exchange did not halt trading but its external screens at Exchange Square downtown stopped showing data for three minutes. The Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange, also in Hong Kong, suspended trading briefly to mark the occasion.

    An official memorial for Jiang drew large crowds over the weekend, mostly older Hong Kongers who have seen Hong Kong’s transition from British to Chinese rule. The handover was made with a pledge by China that Hong Kong would maintain its own social, economic and legal systems for 50 years.

    A sweeping crackdown on freedom of speech and assembly, electoral reforms that effectively eliminated the political opposition and the imposition of a draconian National Security Law under Xi have drained most of the substance from the “one country, two systems” framework as promised under Jiang.

    ———

    Associated Press reporter Kanis Leung contributed to this report from Hong Kong.

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  • China’s Leader Xi Jinping Secures Third Term As His Rivals Fall Away

    China’s Leader Xi Jinping Secures Third Term As His Rivals Fall Away

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    China’s President Xi Jinping did what everyone expected. He extended his rule as the country’s leader for a precedent-breaking third term, while promoting more of his allies into the party’s top leadership positions and maneuvering his rivals into retirement.

    Xi, 69, was re-elected as the general secretary of the Communist Party on Sunday, following China’s national congress that opened a week ago, confirming his status as the country’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. His appointment means that he will be in firm control of the world’s second-largest economy for at least another five years at a time when it increasingly finds itself on a collision course with the U.S.

    On Sunday, Xi said the country “will strive harder to achieve the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation,” a term that largely means transforming the nation into a global power with higher standards of living and advanced technologies comparable with those in the West.

    He made the comments after introducing the new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, the country’s most powerful decision-making body, to a room filled with carefully selected journalists at Beijing’s Great Hall of People.

    It’s a lineup that reveals Xi has surrounded himself with allies by promoting close associates such as Beijing’s top party official Cai Qi and Guangdong province party chief Li Xi to the Politburo.

    The elevation of Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang is particularly noteworthy and speaks volumes to Xi’s consolidation of power. Li, who has never held a senior central government post, appeared right next to Xi before the leader addressed reporters on Sunday. Li is most well known for overseeing the bruising month-long lockdown of Shanghai earlier this year, which triggered widespread public anger and raised doubts as to whether he might still earn a much-coveted promotion.

    Observers say Xi values loyalty above everything else, and he’s willing to break from the political norms of the past. For example, the name of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang did not appear in the 205-member central committee, which is a prerequisite for joining the Politburo, even though he is still a year away from the usual retirement age.

    The 67-year-old Li is known to have at times issued views on the economy that contradicts those of Xi. And in a rare display of drama at an otherwise highly choreographed event, Hu Jintao, the 79-year-old predecessor to Xi, was unexpectedly escorted out of yesterday’s closing session of the party congress.

    Although Hu appeared to be reluctant to leave, the official Xinhua News Agency later reported via Twitter that Hu left due to health reasons, and he is feeling much better after resting. But the event does not appear on China’s highly censored internet, with searches for Hu Jintao on the country’s Twitter-equivalent Sina Weibo yields zero mentions of his sudden departure.

    Xi, however, did give some reassurances to market watchers. He said on Sunday that China would continue to open up, and resolutely deepen reform. The country’s economy has shown perseverance and great potential, and its strong fundamentals “will not change.”

    Xi’s consolidation of power comes as China faces countless difficulties. This week, Beijing delayed the publishing of the nation’s third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data, adding further to investors’ anxiety over an economy that’s been battered by a spiraling real estate crisis and Xi’s unrelenting Covid policies. In his opening address of the party congress, Xi again praised his Covid-Zero policy as a “people’s war” that has prevented fatalities and protected lives, although he didn’t acknowledge the repeated city-wide lockdowns, food shortages and lack of medical supplies that resulted.

    Shen Meng, managing director of Beijing-based boutique investment bank Chanson & Co., says going into the next five-year period, the leadership would continue to take a rather conservative stance in steering the economy.

    “China would probably continue to crack down on the disorderly expansion of the private-sector economy, and state-owned economic powers would be effectively strengthened, ” he said, adding that this means private enterprises would work in second place to state-owned companies.

    And there is a strong likelihood that the crackdown on the real estate sector will continue. Xi didn’t mention his slogan “housing is for living in, not for speculation” in his opening speech, which had renewed hopes among some that support for the troubled real estate sector may be forthcoming. Xi had rolled out his campaign for more affordable housing in 2017, which set off a wave of policies aimed at taming skyrocketing housing prices and reining in the excessive borrowing that had become common among Chinese property developers. But a transcript of proceedings distributed later repeated the housing slogan, signaling that there would be no let up in the cooling measures in the foreseeable future.

    China’s real estate market is estimated to account for as much as a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product. The real estate slump combined with Covid Zero is expected to drag China’s 2022 GDP growth to just 3.2%, well below Xi’s previous goal of around 5.5%

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    Robert Olsen, Forbes Staff

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  • China’s top leaders revealed as Xi Jinping cements grip on power with third term | CNN

    China’s top leaders revealed as Xi Jinping cements grip on power with third term | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Chinese leader Xi Jinping has formally stepped into his third term ruling China with an iron grip on power, breaking with recent precedent to secure another five years in power, as he revealed a top leadership body stacked with loyal allies.

    On Sunday, following the close of the Communist Party Congress, seven men – namely Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Li Xi and Ding Xuexiang – were announced as members of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s top ruling body.

    They now compose the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s most powerful decision-making body, and will sit atop of the party to drive the world’s second-largest economy over the coming half decade.

    The line-up was more stacked with staunch Xi loyalists that some watchers of elite Chinese politics had predicted – making clear that Xi has consolidated his power both in the public eye and in the closed-door meetings where leadership decisions are made.

    Noticeably absent from the line-up was Hu Chunhua, 59, a vice premier outside Xi’s orbit who had previously been touted as a potential successor to Xi and a candidate for the Standing Committee.

    Instead, Xi had filled the four open spots on the seven-member body with Xi long-time allies and proteges, Li Qiang, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi, clearing the path for him to rule for a third term with minimal internal resistance – and underlining that affinity to Xi trumps all else in China’s current political landscape.

    “The current situation is something unprecedented … this new line-up is not a product of power sharing or horse trading among different factions, but basically it is the result or consequence from Xi’s authority,” said Chen Gang, senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute.

    “For the party’s decision-making, I think that we have entered a really a new era, as Xi now controls almost every aspect concerning policy making and decision making … we’re seeing a kind of re-centralised bureaucracy in China, which will definitely impact the future China’s economic foreign policy trajectory,” he said.

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  • China reaffirms Xi’s dominance, removes No. 2 Li Keqiang

    China reaffirms Xi’s dominance, removes No. 2 Li Keqiang

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    BEIJING — China’s ruling Communist Party reaffirmed President Xi Jinping’s continued dominance in running the nation Saturday, one day ahead of giving him a widely expected third five-year term as leader.

    A party congress effectively removed Premier Li Keqiang from senior leadership. Li, the nation’s No. 2 official, is a proponent of market-oriented reforms, which are in contrast to Xi’s moves to expand state control over the economy.

    The weeklong meeting, as it wrapped up Saturday, also wrote Xi’s major policy initiatives on the economy and the military into the party’s constitution, as well as his push to rebuild and strengthen the party’s position by declaring it absolutely central to China’s development and future.

    Analysts were watching for signs of any weakening of or challenge to Xi’s position, but none was apparent. The removal of Li, while not unexpected, signaled Xi’s continuing tight hold on power in the world’s second-largest economy.

    “The congress calls on all party members to acquire a deep understanding of the decisive significance of establishing comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the party Central Committee and in the party as a whole and establishing the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought,” said a resolution on the constitution approved at Saturday’s closing session.

    “Xi Jinping Thought” refers to his ideology, which was enshrined in the party charter at the previous congress in 2017.

    In brief closing remarks, Xi said the revision to the constitution “sets out clear requirements for upholding and strengthening the party’s overall leadership.”

    Li was among four of the seven members of the party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee who were missing from its new 205-member Central Committee, which was formally elected at the closing session.

    That means they won’t be reappointed to the Standing Committee in a leadership shuffle that will be unveiled Sunday. Xi is widely expected to retain the top spot, getting a third term as general secretary.

    The three others who were dropped were Vice Premier Han Zheng, party advisory body head Wang Yang, and Li Zhanshu, a longtime Xi ally and the head of the largely ceremonial legislature.

    Li Keqiang will remain as premier for about six more months until a new slate of government ministers is named.

    If he had stayed on the Standing Committee, it would have indicated some possible pushback within the leadership against Xi, particularly on economic policy. Li had already been largely sidelined, though, as Xi has taken control of most aspects of government.

    The more than 2,300 delegates to the party congress — wearing blue surgical masks under China’s strict “zero-COVID” policy — met in the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.

    Most media, including all foreign journalists, were not allowed into the first part of the meeting when the voting took place.

    Former Chinese President Hu Jintao, Xi’s predecessor as party leader, was helped off the stage a little more than two hours into the 3.5-hour meeting without explanation.

    Hu, 79, spoke briefly with Xi, whom he had been sitting next to in the front row, before walking off with an assistant holding him by the arm. Jiang Zemin, 96, who was president before Hu, did not appear at this congress.

    As speculation swirled in some Western media about the reason for Hu’s departure, China’s official Xinhua News Agency tweeted late Saturday that he was not feeling well and had been accompanied to a nearby room for a rest.

    Only 11 women were among the 205 people named to the Central Committee, or about 5% of the total. Members of minority groups made up 4%. Those percentages were roughly the same as in the last Central Committee.

    At least one committee member, Wang Junzheng, the Communist Party leader in Tibet, has been sanctioned by the U.S. for human rights abuses.

    Police were stationed along major roads, with bright-red-clad neighborhood watch workers at regular intervals in between, to keep an eye out for any potential disruptions.

    An individual caught authorities by surprise last week by unfurling banners from an overpass in Beijing that called for Xi’s removal and attacked his government’s tough pandemic restrictions.

    A report read by Xi at the opening session of the congress a week ago showed a determination to stay on the current path in the face of domestic and international challenges.

    Xi has emerged during his first decade in power as one of China’s most powerful leaders in modern times, rivaling Mao Zedong, who founded the communist state in 1949 and led the country for a quarter-century.

    A third five-year term as party leader would break an unofficial two-term limit that was instituted to try to prevent the excesses of Mao’s one-person rule, notably the tumultuous 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, under which Xi suffered as a youth.

    Xi has put loyalists in key positions and taken personal charge of policy working groups. In contrast, factions within the party discussed ideas internally under Hu and Jiang, his two immediate predecessors, said Ho-fung Hung, a professor of political economy at Johns Hopkins University.

    “Right now, you don’t really see a lot of internal party debates about these different policies and there is only one voice there,” he said.

    Xi has emphasized the central role of the Communist Party, expanding state control over society as well as the economy. In his remarks, he said the party, which marked its 100th anniversary last year, is still in its prime.

    “The Communist Party of China is once again embarking on a new journey on which it will face new tests,” he said.

    The congress concluded by playing the communist anthem, “The Internationale.”

    ———

    Associated Press writer Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

    ———

    The title for Standing Committee member Han Zheng has been corrected to vice premier, not Shanghai party chief, his former position.

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  • Former China President Unexpectedly Led Out Of Party Congress — CNN

    Former China President Unexpectedly Led Out Of Party Congress — CNN

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    Former China President Hu Jintao was unexpectedly led out of the closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress in Beijing today from his chair next to his successor Xi Jinping, CNN reported, citing meeting video.

    Li’s departure was “a moment of drama during what is typically a highly choreographed event,” the network reported. “The circumstances surrounding Hu’s exit are not clear.”

    Hu was led out “shortly after foreign media came in,” the Associated Press said.

    The week-long gathering on Saturday selected 205 party leaders of its central committee for the next five years. The meeting comes amid geopolitical tension with the U.S. over Taiwan and Beijing’s close ties with Russia, and has been watched by governments, businesses and investors globally for signs of China’s future policy directions.

    Hu, 79, was seated next to Xi “when he was approached by a staff member,” CNN said. “While seated, Hu appeared to talk briefly with the male staff member, while China’s third most senior leader, Li Zhanshu, who was seated to his other side, had his hand on the chair behind Hu’s back,” CNN reported.

    “Hu then appeared to rise after being lifted up by the staff member, who’d taken the former leader by the arm, while Kong Shaoxun, head of the party’s secretariat came over. Hu spoke with the two men briefly and initially appeared reluctant to leave.”

    “At one point, while Hu was still seated, Xi appeared to place his hand over a document that Hu was attempting to reach for preventing him from doing so,” CNN said.

    Chinese state-run media, as it has all week, lauded the meeting today, without explaining why Hu was led out.

    “The congress noted that the establishment of Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era has set the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on ‘an irreversible historical course,’” Xinhua News Agency reported today.

    The party’s powerful Politburo and standing committee will be named on Sunday and meet the domestic and foreign press, Xinhua said.

    The congress until today had been notable for consistency of policy statements (see related post here).

    @rflannerychina

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    Russell Flannery, Forbes Staff

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  • Former Chinese leader Hu Jintao unexpectedly led out of room as Party Congress comes to a close | CNN

    Former Chinese leader Hu Jintao unexpectedly led out of room as Party Congress comes to a close | CNN

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    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    China’s former top leader, Hu Jintao, was unexpectedly led out of Saturday’s closing ceremony of the Communist Party Congress, in a moment of drama during what is typically a highly choreographed event.

    Hu, 79, was seated in a prominent position at the front table in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, directly next to his successor, current leader Xi Jinping, when he was approached by a staff member, video of the meeting shows.

    While seated, Hu appeared to talk briefly with the male staff member, while China’s third most senior leader, Li Zhanshu, who was seated to his other side, had his hand on the chair behind Hu’s back.

    Hu then appeared to rise after being lifted up by the staff member, who’d taken the former leader by the arm, while Kong Shaoxun, head of the party’s secretariat came over. Hu spoke with the two men briefly and initially appeared reluctant to leave.

    Hu was then escorted by the two men from his seat, with the staff member holding his arm, as other party members seated behind the main table looked on. The circumstances surrounding Hu’s exit are not clear.

    On his way out, Hu was seen to pause and appeared to say something to Xi and then patted Premier Li Keqiang on the shoulder. Both Xi and Li appeared to nod. It was not clear what Xi said in reply.

    At one point, while Hu was still seated, Xi appeared to place his hand over a document that Hu was attempting to reach for preventing him from doing so.

    In another moment, after Hu was standing and apparently remonstrating with the two men before making his exit, Li Zhanshu appeared to try and rise from his seat, but was directed back down by a tug on his suit jacket by fellow Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Huning, seated next to him.

    Hu, who retired in 2013, has been seen in increasingly frail health in public in recent years.

    Due to the opacity of Chinese elite politics, the party is unlikely to offer a public explanation on Hu’s sudden exit. The dramatic moment has not been reported anywhere in Chinese media, or discussed on Chinese social media, where such conversation is highly-restricted. But it has set off a firestorm of speculation overseas.

    CNN was censored on air in China when reporting on Hu’s exit from the meeting Saturday.

    Hu’s departure came after the Congress’s more than 2,000 delegates had rubber-stamped the new members of the party’s elite Central Committee during a private session, and before delegates were called on to endorse the party’s work report during a session open to journalists.

    The newly announced 205-member Central Committee did not include Li Keqiang and fellow Standing Committee member Wang Yang, who are both considered Hu’s proteges. This means neither will retain their seats in the Standing Committee, the party’s top-decision making body, though both are 67, one year short of the unofficial retirement age. Xi, who is 69, is included in the list of new Central Committee members.

    The line-up of the Standing Committee will be revealed Sunday, one day after the close of the Congress. Xi, who is widely seen to have cemented power by eliminating rivals and dampening the lingering influence of party elders, is expected to be re-confirmed as party chief in a norm-breaking move and surround himself with allies.

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  • China party congress offers look at future leaders

    China party congress offers look at future leaders

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    BEIJING — While Xi Jinping is primed to receive a third term as head of China’s ruling Communist Party on Sunday, it is unknown who will join him for the next five years on the party’s leading bodies, the Central Committee and the Politburo.

    Analysts will scrutinize who joins, and who leaves, for any clues about the future direction of policy as well as just how much power the 69-year-old Xi has been able to amass as one of China’s most influential figures in the country’s modern political history.

    Most closely watched will be the Politburo Standing Committee, whose size fluctuates but has stood at seven members under Xi. Based on past practice, the new lineup will be revealed when the members walk out from behind a curtain Sunday, one day after the end of a weeklong party congress.

    The positions they take on stage, to Xi’s left and right, will indicate their rank within what is considered the inner circle of power. Leading contenders include both current members and newcomers:

    ———

    PREMIER LI KEQIANG

    One major question is the future of the party’s No. 2 official, Premier Li Keqiang, who has been on the Standing Committee since 2012 and is primarily responsible for heading the cabinet and managing the world’s second-largest economy.

    The 67-year-old Li is regarded as an advocate of market reforms and private enterprise, in contrast to Xi, who favors state-led development with an emphasis on technological self-reliance and reducing the large gap between rich and poor.

    Li has had little impact on policymaking since Xi sidelined him politically, but he has led efforts to promote consumption-led economic growth and reduce reliance on exports and investment, employing tactics that some other countries say violate China’s free-trade commitments.

    Though he has said he will step down as premier next year, he is still eligible to stay on the Standing Committee. If he remains, analysts say that might indicate that supporters of a more market-driven economy have tempered Xi’s push for greater state control.

    ADVISORY BODY HEAD WANG YANG

    Other possible holdovers include Wang Yang, who joined the Standing Committee in 2017 and is also regarded as a member of the wing that favors markets, private enterprise and economic experimentation.

    Wang heads the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a party-controlled advisory body made up of representatives from various sectors such as religious groups, professional organizations and chambers of commerce.

    He won plaudits in 2011 for defusing protests by residents of the fishing village of Wukan over land sales by local officials.

    POLITICAL THEORIST WANG HUNING

    Longtime party political theorist Wang Huning is seen as likely to stay on the Standing Committee. He may move up to head of the National People’s Congress, the largely ceremonial legislature, which would make him one of the top three party officials.

    VICE PREMIER HU CHUNHUA

    Among possible newcomers, Vice Premier Hu Chunhua is considered one of those with the best chance. He was a top official in Guangdong province from 2012 to 2017, where he led a crackdown on “naked officials” who work in China but have sent their families to live abroad, considered an indication of corruption.

    Hu rose through the party’s Communist Youth League, which is seen as a separate faction from Xi’s circle and politically close to Xi’s predecessor, former party leader and President Hu Jintao.

    Hu Chunhua is known as a boy wonder who ranked first in China’s national university entrance examinations and became the youngest person to hold several official posts.

    He spent the first two decades of his career in Tibet, where he promoted economic development and oversaw efforts to suppress pro-independence sentiment. He was thereafter appointed party secretary for the Inner Mongolia region.

    SHANGHAI CHIEF LI QIANG

    Li Qiang has been party secretary of Shanghai, China’s largest city and financial hub, since 2017. The post was previously held by Xi, former President Jiang Zemin and former Premier Zhu Rongji.

    Li is regarded as being close to Xi after serving under him in the southeastern province of Zhejiang, a center for export-oriented manufacturing and private enterprise.

    His reputation was dented by a lengthy lockdown of Shanghai earlier this year that confined 25 million people to their homes, disrupted the economy and prompted scattered public protests.

    CHONGQING LEADER CHEN MIN’ER

    Chen Min’er, another Xi ally who worked under him in Zhejiang province, has served as party secretary of the vast southwestern city of Chongqing since 2017.

    The 62-year-old Chen is regarded by analysts as a rising star whom Xi might want to promote in order to secure his legacy in the next generation.

    Chen has never held a national-level position but is seen as a capable leader who made Chongqing’s government more responsive and efficient after a turbulent period under the now-imprisoned Bo Xilai, who was a Xi rival.

    He previously held the top post in Guizhou, a relatively poor southern province, from 2012 to 2017.

    ———

    The guessing game aside, some question how much the makeup of the Standing Committee matters given Xi’s steely hold on power and the lack of significant policy or ideological differences.

    With his combative approach, Xi is more of a politician in the mold of communist China’s founder Mao Zedong than his more collegial predecessors, who sought to encourage the private sector and maintain good relations with the West.

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