Not too old, but none too popular: Three senior politicians lose their seats at China’s top table
Vice-President Li Yuanchao, propaganda tsar Liu Qibao and ex-boss of Xinjiang Zhang Chunxian ousted from Politburo for no obvious, or official, reason
While much of the focus in Beijing on Wednesday was on the people who had been elevated to the highest ranks of China’s power structure, three members of the Communist Party’s Politburo failed to retain their seats despite there being no obvious, or at least officially announced, reason for them to step down.
Though aged in their sixties, Vice-President Li Yuanchao, 66, propaganda tsar Liu Qibao, 64, and the former boss of Xinjiang Zhang Chunxian, 64, are all under the unofficial retirement age of 68, so their departure from the 25-member decision making body is something of a mystery.
No official explanation has been given for their change of status.
Patricia Thornton, a professor of Chinese politics at Britain’s Oxford University, pointed to the fact that both Li and Liu were associated with the Communist Youth League, a power base of former President Hu Jintao that has been far less in favour under President Xi Jinping.
A number of previously rising stars from the faction have seen their political prospects dim in recent years.