China’s most media-savvy official keeps quiet about promotion
Chen Li has 15 million followers on Sina Weibo but failed to mention his new appointment
Chen Li, China’s most media-savvy Communist Party official with more than 15 million followers on Sina Weibo, was promoted to spokesperson for the party’s highest legal decision-making body, the Central Politics and Law Commission, sometime earlier this year. But, somewhat ironically, no one was told about it until Tuesday.
The frequent commentator on social conflict in rural China gathered a massive following – more than Mariah Carey, Bill Gates or CNN’s followers on Twitter – within the last year, while he served as the deputy head of security for Shaanxi province.
The outspoken official continued to post messages on his Sina Weibo account after his appointment, but has not mentioned his promotion, which has not been formally announced. Observers had to resort to old-fashioned Kremlinology, the study of appearances and state media references, to confirm the newly minted spokesperson’s promotion.
Observers also noticed that from April he repeatedly mentioned Meng Jianzhu, the head of the commission and a Politburo member, in his microblog posts.