Other top Chinese leaders to bring experience to Xi

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Six men accompany Chinese President Xi Jinping in the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee of the ruling Communist Party, holding such important portfolios as propaganda and the fight against corruption.

All are party veterans and have close ties, both personal and professional, to President Xi, China’s most powerful figure for decades.

The background of the six is ​​expected to be revealed during the ongoing session of the National People’s Congress (NPC, China’s ceremonial legislative body).

The context of the six shows the “continued prominence of politics in Xi Jinping’s vision for China’s governance,” said Neil Thomas, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s China Analysis Center.

The standing committee has only male representatives and the 24-member Politburo, which has had only four female members since the 1990s, is also devoid of female officials following the departure of Deputy Prime Minister Sun Chunlan.

Here are some details about the members of the standing committee in order of party rank:

LI QIANG

Li Qiang, perhaps Xi’s closest official, is expected to take over as prime minister, nominally in charge of the cabinet and in charge of the economy. Li is best known for imposing a relentless blockade on Shanghai last spring as party leader in China’s financial hub, demonstrating his loyalty to Xi in the face of local complaints about his lack of access to food. medical care and basic services.

Li, 63, met Xi during the future president’s tenure as head of Li’s home province of Zhejiang in the country’s relatively wealthy southeast, which is now known as a technology and manufacturing powerhouse.

ZHAO LEJI

Zhao Leji, a holdover from the former Politburo Standing Committee, won Xi’s trust as head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, a party anti-corruption watchdog, through an anti-corruption campaign which froze any possible opposition to the leader. .

Zhao, 65, is expected to serve as chairman of the National People’s Congress and its standing committee, which handles most of the actual legislative work.

WANG HUNING

Wang Huning, another veteran of the previous Standing Committee, comes from an academic background: he was a professor of international politics at Fudan University in Shanghai and a senior adviser to two of Xi’s predecessors. Wang, 67, has never held a position in central or local government, which is rare for a senior position.

Wang is known for writing books critical of Western politics and society, and is expected to be appointed head of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the NPC’s advisory body which, in coordination with the Front Department united party, works to strengthen Xi’s influence and image. abroad.

CAI IQ

As leader of China’s capital since 2017, Cai Qi oversaw the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which the party celebrated as a victory. Cai, 67, also oversaw the forced eviction of thousands of migrant workers from run-down urban neighborhoods and kept COVID cases relatively low in Beijing without enacting the harsh measures seen in Shanghai and elsewhere.

Cai, who has a doctorate in economics, has also entered Xi’s close orbit on the political scene in Zhejiang province. An early adopter of Chinese social media, Cai is also among the few senior officials to have visited Taiwan, and he praised the island’s ubiquitous convenience stores in a 2012 article for Caixin magazine’s website. He should be in charge of propaganda and official messages.

DING XUEXIANG

As director of the party’s general office since 2017, Ding Xuexiang has effectively served as Xi’s chief of staff, being prominent during state visits and meetings with foreign leaders. Like Wang, Ding has never held a government post, but he sits in the party business center, just below the Politburo.

At just 60, Ding’s career took off after he was named Xi’s secretary during his brief tenure as party leader in Shanghai. He is expected to be appointed first deputy prime minister, tasking him with overseeing administrative affairs.

LIXI

Before being appointed to the Standing Committee, Li Xi, 66, ruled Guangdong province, one of China’s wealthiest regions and the base of its vast manufacturing sector.

Previously, he served as party secretary of Mao Zedong’s famous revolutionary base in Yan’an and became an early pioneer of so-called “red tourism”, promoting sites devoted to the history of the party before it took power in 1949.

Li, Xi’s confidant, has already been appointed to replace Zhao as head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.