Editorial | Rather than closing doors, new leadership will open new ones
- Xi Jinping’s new hand-picked team to run China for the next five years and beyond is relatively young and will have to tackle many daunting challenges ahead, and that means it must continue to reform and engage proactively with the rest of the world
In his capacity as Communist Party chief, Xi Jinping’s unveiling of the next generation of national leadership has lived up to expectations of a major reshuffle. Xi, who has secured his third term as general secretary, has hand-picked his core team to meet mounting challenges. New faces are in the majority.
For most people, the abiding concern is what it means to China’s economy and continued opening up. That depends on the construction placed on replacement of four political heavyweights at the highest level as well as new faces in the 24-member Politburo.
A Western narrative is that Xi has pushed reformists out to make way for protégés to help fulfil an inward-looking vision of national rejuvenation. This is typical of simplistic reading of political context.
Take, for example, Shanghai party chief Li Qiang, a new member of the Politburo Standing Committee and likely the next premier. He is identified with the controversial two-month lockdown of Shanghai earlier this year, prompting foreign observers to discount his political future.
But his track record in the mainland’s financial capital reveals a strong hand over the economy, with a focus on the hi-tech sector reflected in growth in the semiconductor industry.