{"id":76259,"date":"2022-11-02T15:00:55","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T04:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=76259"},"modified":"2022-11-02T14:53:08","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T03:53:08","slug":"whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Who\u2019s who in the new era of Xi Jinping\u2019s China"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

The National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, ostensibly the party\u2019s highest leadership body<\/a>, is not where real power is contested, but is a performative exercise<\/a> used to legitimise China\u2019s undemocratic leadership. The recent 20th party congress was no different.<\/p>\n

Many headlines were devoted to the escorting of former supreme leader Hu Jintao from the ornate Great Hall of the People. But a closer look at the changes in the composition of high-ranking bodies, and the release of an amendment to the CCP\u2019s constitution, reveal critical clues to China watchers about the country\u2019s future economic and political direction\u2014changes that could have long-term impacts on both China and the world.<\/p>\n

With the eviction of the remnants of factional opposition, General Secretary Xi Jinping secured his absolute dominance over the party apparatus. The demotion of Hu Chunhua (a vice premier once regarded as a possible successor to Xi) from the politburo and the exclusion of Li Keqiang (the premier) and Wang Yang (the former vice premier in Li\u2019s cabinet) from the CCP Central Committee symbolised the complete withdrawal of the Youth League faction from the political stage.<\/p>\n

Notably, though not outright reformist, these three politicians are seen as reform minded. In addition, a group of the party\u2019s economic experts who have previously supported market-oriented policies and were perceived as friendly to the private economy were either eliminated or retired from the politburo, including banking regulator Guo Shuqing, central bank governor Yi Gang, finance minister Liu Kun, and \u2018economic tsar\u2019 Liu He. Instead, devoted Xi loyalists Li Qiang and Ding Xuexiang have been granted seats in the Politburo Standing Committee, and Xi\u2019s long-time friend He Lifeng was elevated into the politburo.<\/p>\n

As is common practice in the party-state system, Li Qiang, the second-ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee, is expected to be named China\u2019s next premier, replacing Li Keqiang at the annual legislative session in March 2023. Ding will likely be appointed executive vice premier, a position that is generally responsible for implementing Xi’s most important economic and social policy directives, while He Lifeng is a potential successor to Liu He. Among this new finance team, only He Lifeng has significant experience in finance at the state level, since neither Li Qiang nor Ding has working experience on economic issues in the state council.<\/p>\n

Such promotions clearly indicate the changing requirements to enter Xi\u2019s inner circle, from ability and expertise to loyalty. It has heightened fears that ideology and loyalty to \u2018Xi Jinping thought\u2019 will get in the way of much-needed market reforms. In response, the stock market, which might be the only place in China allowed to give a real reaction to the outcome, tumbled on the Monday following the congress. Hong Kong\u2019s benchmark Hang Seng Index experienced its biggest daily drop since November 2008 (though it has since recovered some of those losses).<\/p>\n

Xi\u2019s work report to the 20th party congress placed substantially more emphasis<\/a> on security than reports to previous party congresses. Wu Guoguang, a former member of the central policy group on political reform during the tenure of Premier Zhao Ziyang, said he believes that<\/a>, although there has been no official announcement, the era of China\u2019s \u2018economic construction as the centre\u2019 has come to an end. Security has now been recognised as being of at least the same importance as economic development.<\/p>\n

Those views are corroborated by the party\u2019s newly amended constitution announced last Wednesday, in which \u2018secure development of the economy<\/a>\u2019 was added for the first time. Given the sluggishness of China\u2019s economy at present, and the growing questions about whether China\u2019s meteoric economic development has reached its end, strategies for strengthening government control, domesticating market forces and maintaining the stability of a regime whose legitimacy has rested on economic development will become the primary focus for the CCP under Xi\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

The new line-up of the CCP Central Military Commission heralds a worrying future for the situation across the Taiwan Strait. Xi\u2019s promotion of 72-year-old Zhang Youxia to first-ranked vice chairman of the committee indicates an end to the age-restriction convention for membership of the Politburo Standing Committee known as the seven up, eight down (\u4e03\u4e0a\u516b\u4e0b)<\/a> rule. Zhang, regarded as a close associate of Xi, was a company commander during the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979 and is one of few senior generals with actual combat experience.<\/p>\n

Another general rewarded with an exceptional promotion is He Weidong, who was confirmed as the second-ranked vice chairman of the commission. During the 20th congress, he advanced three ranks to the politburo. He served in the 31st Group Army in Fujian (now the 73rd Group Army), known as the frontline force against Taiwan. In 2019, he was appointed as the commander of the Eastern Theatre Command and was the main planner of the large-scale live-fire military drills and missile tests surrounding Taiwan after US House of Representative Speaker Nancy Pelosi\u2019s visit in August.<\/p>\n

The reshuffle at the top of the Central Military Commission demonstrates Xi\u2019s preference for both political reliability and tactical skill, highlighting the required traits for military leadership in the case of a Taiwan contingency. Given these new developments, Taiwan\u2019s defence minister, Chiu Kuo-cheng, believes the People\u2019s Liberation Army will \u2018adopt a tougher strategy in dealing with Taiwan in the future<\/a>\u2019<\/u>.<\/p>\n

Since the 19th party congress, the Taiwan issue has been elevated from being a regional affair to now being a key part of the \u2018great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation\u2019 proposed by Xi. Xi\u2019s work report to the 20th congress has reiterated this talking point. Retaining the old CCP script, Xi again vowed never to renounce the use of force.<\/p>\n

In addition, the new amendment to the party\u2019s constitution indicates a clear escalation by\u00a0stating the CCP\u2019s commitment<\/a>\u00a0to \u2018resolutely oppose and deter separatists seeking \u201cTaiwan independence\u201d\u2019. Given this escalation, signals of outside deterrence are important, especially when there are no checks and balances within the party. Countries that value the status quo international order must demonstrate their determination to intervene more clearly to avoid a Chinese strategic miscalculation.<\/p>\n

Highly concentrated political power has always been propagated as China\u2019s proud governance advantage. Today, that concentration of power has reached new levels, with the decades-old oligarchy quietly collapsing and Xi\u2019s elevation above factional politics secured. In his unrivalled ability to direct and dictate China\u2019s course, Xi is perhaps one of the purest manifestations of \u2018a dictator\u2019 in recent history. But with political decision-making resting on the shoulders of one man, how Xi responds to policy failures and successes will have big implications for China, and indeed the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, ostensibly the party\u2019s highest leadership body, is not where real power is contested, but is a performative exercise used to legitimise China\u2019s undemocratic leadership. The recent 20th …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1592,"featured_media":76264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1858,1383,52,204],"class_list":["post-76259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-authoritarianism","tag-ccp","tag-china","tag-xi-jinping"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWho\u2019s who in the new era of Xi Jinping\u2019s China | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who\u2019s who in the new era of Xi Jinping\u2019s China | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, ostensibly the party\u2019s highest leadership body, is not where real power is contested, but is a performative exercise used to legitimise China\u2019s undemocratic leadership. The recent 20th ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-02T04:00:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-02T03:53:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1435770767.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"686\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hsi-Ting Pai\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hsi-Ting Pai\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1435770767.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1435770767.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":686,\"caption\":\"BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 23: Members of the new Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, walks with Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Can Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi as they arrive for a group photo at a meeting with Chinese and Foreign Journalists at The Great Hall of People on October 23, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer\/Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/\",\"name\":\"Who\u2019s who in the new era of Xi Jinping\u2019s China | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-02T04:00:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-02T03:53:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/0e92f556033fb74fec8b09df8ac49c05\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Who\u2019s who in the new era of Xi Jinping\u2019s China\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/0e92f556033fb74fec8b09df8ac49c05\",\"name\":\"Hsi-Ting Pai\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/926557a73fa1f9eca9b415af2c5e5bd5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/926557a73fa1f9eca9b415af2c5e5bd5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hsi-Ting Pai\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/hsi-ting-pai\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who\u2019s who in the new era of Xi Jinping\u2019s China | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who\u2019s who in the new era of Xi Jinping\u2019s China | The Strategist","og_description":"The National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, ostensibly the party\u2019s highest leadership body, is not where real power is contested, but is a performative exercise used to legitimise China\u2019s undemocratic leadership. The recent 20th ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2022-11-02T04:00:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-02T03:53:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":686,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1435770767.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hsi-Ting Pai","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hsi-Ting Pai","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1435770767.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/GettyImages-1435770767.jpg","width":1024,"height":686,"caption":"BEIJING, CHINA - OCTOBER 23: Members of the new Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, walks with Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Can Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi as they arrive for a group photo at a meeting with Chinese and Foreign Journalists at The Great Hall of People on October 23, 2022 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer\/Getty Images)"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/","name":"Who\u2019s who in the new era of Xi Jinping\u2019s China | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2022-11-02T04:00:55+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-02T03:53:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/0e92f556033fb74fec8b09df8ac49c05"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/whos-who-in-the-new-era-of-xi-jinpings-china\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Who\u2019s who in the new era of Xi Jinping\u2019s China"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/0e92f556033fb74fec8b09df8ac49c05","name":"Hsi-Ting Pai","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/926557a73fa1f9eca9b415af2c5e5bd5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/926557a73fa1f9eca9b415af2c5e5bd5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Hsi-Ting Pai"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/hsi-ting-pai\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1592"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76259"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76266,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76259\/revisions\/76266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}