China’s leader Xi Jinping claimed his third term in power this weekend, removing men from rival factions from the politburo standing committee, China’s seven-member core of political power.
It is now filled with men – there has never been a woman in the PSC – who are loyal acolytes of Xi, in what one analyst described as “peak Xi”.
They range from a friend with ties to the Xi family dating back decades to more recent aides who have shown commitment as he has consolidated power over the years, and the hardline ideologue that is his main political theorist.
After Mao’s death, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tried to normalize a collective leadership that made the general secretary of the party a kind of “first among equals” of the PSC.
That era is over. However, PSC members still hold immense power and will be key to shaping and implementing Xi’s vision for China and the CCP.
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Below are brief introductions to these seven men. New entrants to the Politburo have a star
by his name
Standing Committee of the Politburo
Xi Jinping, 69Xi, took over the Communist Party, and thus China, in late 2012. He has used this week to consolidate his power and eliminate all political rivals from the Politburo Standing Committee. He has been given five more years in power and is likely to stay beyond that. His positions as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and chairman of the central military commission were renewed at the party congress. His position as president of the People’s Republic of China will almost certainly be renewed in the stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, next March.
* Li Qiang, 63 Li Qiang, a close ally of Xi, is party secretary in Shanghai, which has historically been a training ground for top national leaders. He is expected to be the next premier when Li Keqiang, now off the standing committee and headed for retirement, steps down in March.
Li presided over the disastrous Shanghai Covid lockdown earlier this year, doubling down on the “zero Covid” approach favored by Xi despite a huge economic and human cost. His elevation has been widely seen as a sign that Xi values loyalty and familiar faces over competition.
From 2004 to 2007, when Xi was the top party boss in Zhejiang province, Li was his chief of staff. After Xi became China’s top leader, he promoted Li first to governor of Zhejiang and then to party secretary of Jiangsu province, giving him the regional governance experience and credentials he needed to to more important positions.
Zhao Leji, 65 Zhao Leji has his roots in two impoverished western provinces: Shaanxi, his ancestral home, and Qinghai, where in 2000 he became the country’s youngest provincial governor.
He has been head of the party’s top anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, a key instrument in strengthening the CCP and Xi’s personal control.
He also headed the party’s powerful Organization Department, overseeing the appointment of all of China’s top officials. He used this post to show his loyalty, placing Xi allies in important positions across the country over the past decade.
Wang Huning, a key ally of Xi 67, Wang is rare among senior Communist cadres in having no administrative experience running a major province or city. Instead, he is Xi’s political theoretician, his closest adviser on ideology, propaganda and foreign policy.
A former academic known for his theories on “neo-authoritarianism,” Wang advocated a strong, centralized state to counter foreign influence. For Xi, he also believes in strong central leadership, rejecting the collective leadership introduced after the death of Mao Zedong in an effort to avoid a repeat of the excesses of that era.
His official positions include serving as Director of the Central Policy Research Office (CPRO) from 2002 to 2020.
* Cai Qi, 66 Cai Qi, party secretary of Beijing, was the surprise entry into the PSC. He was on some long lists of potential candidates, but had not been widely tipped for the top spot.
His entry is another sign of how much Xi values both loyalists and people he met rising through the ranks. Born in Fujian, the eastern coastal province that would mark Xi’s early career, Cai spent the beginning of his working life there. He moved to nearby Zhejiang province, where Xi served as governor, before being put in charge of Beijing in 2017.
He has been a prominent champion of the Zero Covid policy adopted by Xi and successfully oversaw the 2022 Winter Olympics.
* Ding Xuexiang, 60Ding Xuexiang is an old and trusted ally of China’s leader. He served as Xi’s political secretary when he became Shanghai party chief in 2007 and rose with him to become private secretary and gatekeeper when Xi took over the country.
He studied mechanical engineering and began his career as a researcher at the Shanghai Materials Research Institute, before moving into full-time party positions.
Ding’s behind-the-scenes roles mean he has an even lower public profile than China’s other leaders, although the CCP is generally reserved about major figures.
He is the youngest member of the standing committee and, at 60, the only one who could be eligible under the old rules to serve another term in 2027. However, Xi has already broken rules on the retirement age, so that others could also stay there. .
* Li Xi, 66 Li Xi is a longtime member of Xi’s inner circle. The two men have known each other, and are said to have been family friends, since the early 1980s, when Li worked for a party veteran who was close to Xi’s father.
He has risen steadily in the party through positions across China, in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanghai and Liaoning. He originally studied Chinese language and literature, but more recently did an MBA at Tsinghua University.
Now he is the head of the party of wealth Guangdong province. There he is responsible for the development of the Greater Bay Area, Xi’s master plan for an economic powerhouse that integrates nine Chinese cities with Hong Kong and Macau.