Xi Jinping ally Shi Taifeng to head Chinese Communist Party’s influence machine

Politburo newcomer Shi tapped to advance party agenda at home and abroad as head of the United Front Work Department
Shi tells staff that implementing ‘the spirit of the 20th party congress’ is now their main political task

China’s 20th Party Congress

Salina Li

Published: 5:47pm, 28 Oct 2022

Why you can trust SCMP

Shi Taifeng, a Politburo newcomer and a close ally of Chinese President Xi Jinping, has been confirmed as head of the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, a signal that Xi intends to give the body a bigger role in his national rejuvenation programme.

Shi, 66, was at a meeting of the department on Thursday in his new role as its party secretary, state media reported. The department is responsible for dealing with Chinese who are not members of the Communist Party, as well as religious organisations and political groups both inside and outside China.

In recent years, the United Front Work Department has been accused of conducting foreign influence campaigns targeting Chinese individuals and groups living outside of China, an accusation Beijing has denied.

In his speech, Shi stressed that studying and implementing the spirit of the 20th party congress, which ended last week, is now the department’s main political task, according to the department’s social media account.

The message aligned with the first group study session of the Politburo held on Tuesday. During that meeting, Xi called on Politburo members to lead by example as China worke to achieve its modernisation goals by the middle of this century.

Shi took over the role from You Quan, who is set to retire and never had a seat in the Politburo.

Shi’s appointment was largely expected after he was promoted to the 24-member Politburo on Sunday. On Wednesday, Beijing also announced the appointment of Li Shulei as the party’s new propaganda chief, and on Thursday former Beijing mayor Chen Jining was announced as Shanghai’s party secretary.

Shi was named president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in May.

He held various positions at the Central Party School for nearly three decades, including head of the law department and vice-president, until 2010.

Between 2007 and 2010, Shi was also Xi’s deputy when the future president headed a cadre-training academy.

From 2010, Shi worked on provincial-level party committees, starting in the eastern province of Jiangsu, one of China’s richest industrial and commercial bases.

A year after Shi became party secretary of Inner Mongolia in 2019, Beijing rolled out an anti-corruption campaign that originally targeted the coal industry of northern China. The campaign was later expanded nationwide with investigations of cadres and officials that went as far back as two decades.

According to state media reports, under Shi, the campaign in Inner Mongolia led to the downfall of more than 60 senior local officials. Since 2020, some 789 corruption cases connected to the region’s coal industry have been investigated, involving 1,163 cadres and officials.

Xi has made rooting out corruption one of his top priorities, and during the 20th party congress, he warned of zero tolerance for corrupt Communist Party cadres, promising to impose maximum penalties on offenders.

01:50

Former Chinese president Hu Jintao’s congress exit a break from the Communist Party script

During his time as party boss of Inner Mongolia, Shi also directed that some school subjects be taught in Mandarin, China’s official language, instead of Mongolian.

Protests erupted in the region and neighbouring Mongolia against the change, with demonstrators saying it threatened indigenous culture. Shi later berated local officials for failing “to forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation”.