Update | Anti-corruption chief Wang Qishan steps down from top Chinese leadership as Xi Jinping’s name is enshrined in Communist Party charter

Move puts leader on par with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping

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(L to R) Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping and Jiang Zemin at the closing session of the 19th National Congress. Photo: REUTERS

Published: 8:00am, 24 Oct 2017Updated: 3:57pm, 26 Oct 2017

China’s top graft-buster Wang Qishan is not on the list of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and is therefore confirmed to be retiring from the Politburo Standing Committee, the apex of the Chinese leadership.

The announcement by state media confirms a South China Morning Post report that said Wang, 69, would step down and give up his role as head of the anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). The unit has been behind a years-long dragnet that has caught and sent thousands of corrupt officials to prison.

Meanwhile, Zhao Leji has been named as a CCDI member, a move which an earlier Post exclusive report said could lead to his heading the unit. Zhao is the Party Organisation Department Chief.

And Li Zhanshu, chief of staff to President Xi Jinping, has not been named as a member of the CCDI, contrary to other foreign media speculation.

Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao, who is 66 and has not reached retirement age, is also absent from the Central Committee list. This means he will be stepping down from the Politburo.

The release of the list came after the twice-in-a-decade national congress adopted the political ideology of President Xi Jinping into the charter of the Communist Party as it concluded its meeting on Tuesday.

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