Chinese Communist Party chief in Hubei steps down after leading Covid-19 battle
- Ying Yong will reach the standard retirement age this year and leaves his position months before a major leadership shake-up
- Ying, a Xi Jinping loyalist, had previously been tipped for higher roles
The Chinese official who was appointed to the top job in Hubei province at the height of the Covid-19 outbreak in the province is retiring.
On Tuesday the state news agency Xinhua reported that Ying Yong had left his post as provincial party secretary “due to his age”. Ying, a Xi Jinping loyalist, turns 65, the usual retirement age for provincial officials, later this year.
The announcement comes months ahead of the Communist Party congress, which is expected to see a major leadership shake-up while Xi is given another five years as the party’s general secretary.
Gu Su, a political scientist at Nanjing University, said Ying’s retirement came as a surprise to many as he had long been regarded as a potential candidate for higher positions and had worked with Xi in Zhejiang province.
“With his law enforcement background, track record of containing the first major Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 and trust from the top, many said he is heading to a higher position in law enforcement,” Gu said.
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But Gu noted that some semi-retired provincial chiefs have gone on to take leading roles in the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislative body, or the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body.
The current director of the State Council’s Hong Kong Macau and Affairs office, Xia Baolong, 69, had served as the secretary general of the CPPCC after stepping down as Zhejiang party chief.
The current director of the Hong Kong Liaison office, Luo Huining, 67, became the NPC’s deputy director after leaving his role as Shanxi party secretary.
Housing minister Wang Menghui will succeed Ying as Hubei party chief, Xinhua reported. Other new appointments include Liang Yanshun, who will become Ningxia’s party chief, and Xin Changxing, who will take on the same role in Qinghai.
Xie Maosong, a senior researcher with Tsinghua University’s National Strategy Institute, said the new appointees had experience in both provincial and central government.
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“It is a must for the senior cadres to have both ministerial and grassroot experiences now. Career civil servants in the ministries are parachuted to the provinces to have a taste of the complexities, while officials performing well in the affluent eastern provinces are sent to Xinjiang or Tibet to face different challenges,” Xie said, adding that “Beijing can better assess their overall capabilities and potential flaws” in these roles.
By convention, provincial party bosses like Wang, Liang and Xin will be made members of the new Central Committee, which elects the Politburo.
Over the weekend, Shanghai and Tianjin also announced that the secretaries-general of their municipal party committees – Zhuge Yujie and Jin Xiangjun - had been promoted to deputy secretary.
Zhuge, 50, will be the youngest provincial deputy secretary, a key step for more important party jobs.
