https://www.scmp.com/rss/274480/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com China’s incoming president Xi Jinping was shaped by his “unique experiences as an ‘educated youth’”, state news agency Xinhua said in a profile that was accompanied by a lengthy photo gallery of the Communist Party boss in his early years. The piece, published on Sunday, sought to depict Xi, the son of former vice-premier and Communist revolutionary hero Xi Zhongxun, as a “man of the people” who survived hard times in a village in northwest China’s Shaanxi province. It also covers his time as... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1112069/xi-jinpings-early-life-exalted-xinhua-profile?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1112069/xi-jinpings-early-life-exalted-xinhua-profile?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Dec 2012 04:46:39 +0000 A report about the recent official activities of Liu Qibao, the new propaganda chief whose conspicuous absence from the limelight for nine days has sparked intense speculation among overseas media and pundits, was released yesterday by Xinhua. Some online postings on mainland chatrooms and overseas media reports say his mother has died while others allege he was implicated in the downfall of the Sichuan vice-party boss Li Chuncheng, Liu's former subordinate when he was Sichuan party boss. Xinhua... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1099508/report-propaganda-chief-liu-qibao-released?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1099508/report-propaganda-chief-liu-qibao-released?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Lieutenant General Wei Fenghe , who commands the People's Liberation Army's strategic missile force, was promoted to full general yesterday - the first officer formally elevated to the highest rank by Xi Jinping in his new capacity as the military chief. Wei, the 58-year-old commander of the Second Artillery Corps, received a certificate of command from Xi, chairman of the Communist Party's Central Military Commission, at a ceremony attended by other commission members in Beijing yesterday,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1089561/wei-fenghe-first-pla-general-promoted-under-xi-jinping?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1089561/wei-fenghe-first-pla-general-promoted-under-xi-jinping?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The party chief in Inner Mongolia - a favourite to win a seat on the Politburo Standing Committee in the reshuffle that is five years away - has become the first cadre to pledge loyalty to the new leadership. Hu Chunhua , known as "Little Hu" for following in the footsteps of President Hu Jintao , told a regional cadre meeting yesterday "party members should be on the same path as the party led by general secretary Xi Jinping ". Xi was named national party chief during the leadership reshuffle... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1086372/inner-mongolia-party-chief-hu-chunhua-seen-making-politburo-standing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1086372/inner-mongolia-party-chief-hu-chunhua-seen-making-politburo-standing?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Vice-President Xi Jinping was on Thursday appointed chief of China’s military after a pivotal party congress that saw him become head of the ruling Communist Party, state media reported. The appointment means outgoing Chinese leader Hu Jintao stands down as chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) – a powerful position that his predecessor Jiang Zemin had clung to for two years after Hu was made president. Xi will be named national president in March as part of what now appears to be... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1082998/xi-jinping-appointed-military-chief-clean-transfer-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1082998/xi-jinping-appointed-military-chief-clean-transfer-power?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Nov 2012 05:22:45 +0000 China’s ruling Communist Party closed a pivotal congress on Wednesday that put Vice President Xi Jinping a step closer to taking power for the next decade in a landmark transition. The week-long Communist Party gathering in the cavernous Great Hall of the People ended after its 2,200 delegates from around the country selected a new Central Committee of 205 party members. Xi was renamed to the committee, a widely expected development that was singled out by state media, suggesting he was firmly... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1082534/china-party-congress-closes-sets-xi-leadership-path?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1082534/china-party-congress-closes-sets-xi-leadership-path?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:40:21 +0000 Delegates to China’s Communist Party congress offered the first clues to a generational leadership succession on Wednesday after a preliminary vote tapped Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang as anointed successors for President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. In a brief dispatch, Xinhua news agency said Vice-President Xi and Vice-Premier Li had both been elected to the party’s Central Committee at the end of a key congress, though that result was never really in any doubt. The 2,270 carefully vetted... https://www.scmp.com/news/18th-party-congress/18th-party-congress-lineup/article/1082249/xinhua-live-tweets-closing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/18th-party-congress/18th-party-congress-lineup/article/1082249/xinhua-live-tweets-closing?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Nov 2012 04:10:07 +0000 Communist Party propaganda chief Liu Yunshan is tipped to lead the Secretariat of the party's Central Committee - another victory for the conservatives in their efforts to gain control of the party's power centre in the once-in-a-decade leadership reshuffle. Meanwhile, in a move that confirms earlier reports that Vice-Premier Wang Qishan would be elevated to the Politburo Standing Committee, where he would lead the fight against corruption, Wang Dong, a party congress delegate and chairman of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1081922/liu-yunshan-tipped-lead-central-committee-secretariat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1081922/liu-yunshan-tipped-lead-central-committee-secretariat?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 China’s next first lady Peng Liyuan is a dazzling singer whose profile long eclipsed that of her husband Xi Jinping, and who will bring a touch of glamour to a role hidden in the shadows for decades. Xi is due to take up the leadership of the Communist Party at the close of its congress this week and comparisons are already being drawn between Peng and Carla Bruni, the singer and model who wed France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy. A soprano known for singing the praises of the party, Peng holds... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1081646/chinas-peng-liyuan-first-lady-star-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1081646/chinas-peng-liyuan-first-lady-star-power?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:21:01 +0000 Mao Zedong once declared: “Women hold up half the sky,” but today’s Chinese Communist Party is heavy with testosterone and when a new set of leaders is announced this week all are expected to be male. About a quarter of the delegates at the party congress under way in Beijing are women, but the meeting largely rubberstamps decisions already made behind closed doors and the higher up the echelons of real power, the more their ranks thin. The ruling party’s influential Central Committee has 6 per... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1080664/chinas-communist-party-remains-boys-club?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1080664/chinas-communist-party-remains-boys-club?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Nov 2012 06:40:40 +0000 The leader of the province where June 4 activist Li Wangyang mysteriously died in June is likely to become China's next top judge as part of the leadership transition under way at the 18th party congress, sources said. Zhou Qiang, party chief of southern Hunan, is expected to be appointed president of the Supreme People's Court next March when the transition is completed at the annual parliamentary session, four sources told the Sunday Morning Post. Zhou, one of President Hu Jintao's top... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1079642/hunan-boss-zhou-qiang-tipped-be-top-judge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1079642/hunan-boss-zhou-qiang-tipped-be-top-judge?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Li Yuanchao , a trusted ally of Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao, is tipped to become vice-president next year and oversee Hong Kong and Macau affairs. However, in what appears to be the result of a compromise between party factions, sources said the 62-year-old head of the party's organisation department would not join its supreme Politburo Standing Committee and would remain a member of the Politburo. Li, long seen as a front runner for promotion to a seven-member Politburo Standing... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1079042/li-yuanchao-tipped-oversee-hong-kong-and-macau-affairs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1079042/li-yuanchao-tipped-oversee-hong-kong-and-macau-affairs?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Li Keqiang, a bureaucrat with an easy smile but a mixed record, will step up China’s Communist hierarchy at this week’s congress on his way to becoming prime minister of the world’s second-largest economy. Vice-Premier Li is expected to take over the reins of day-to-day government from his boss Wen Jiabao in March. For the past decade, Wen has cultivated an image as the friendly face of the Communist Party, voicing qualified support for political reform, condemning corruption and comforting... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1076329/chinas-next-premier-li-keqiang-has-mixed-record?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1076329/chinas-next-premier-li-keqiang-has-mixed-record?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Nov 2012 09:22:08 +0000 The next leader of a fifth of the world’s people is a Communist aristocrat married to a star singer -- but his views are a mystery, hidden behind Party secrecy and an enigmatic demeanour. Barring an unprecedented upset, Xi Jinping, 59, is to assume China’s paramount political post as general secretary of the all-powerful Party at its five-yearly congress beginning this week. He replaces the outgoing Hu Jintao and the promotion ensures he will take over the national presidency from Hu early next... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1076147/chinas-xi-mystery-princeling-takes-top-spot?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1076147/chinas-xi-mystery-princeling-takes-top-spot?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Nov 2012 06:16:55 +0000 China’s ruling Communist Party will this month unveil its new top leadership team, expected to again be an all-male cast of politicians whose instincts are to move cautiously on reform. Sources close to the leadership say 10 main candidates are vying for seven seats on the party’s next Politburo Standing Committee, the peak decision-making body which will steer the world’s second-largest economy for the next five years. Only two candidates are considered certainties going into the party’s 18th... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1076022/cautious-reformers-tipped-new-china-leadership?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1076022/cautious-reformers-tipped-new-china-leadership?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Nov 2012 01:46:58 +0000 Were it not for a compelling struggle for power and influence in China ahead of a change in top leadership, another transition would have received more attention from analysts and commentators - a changing of the guard at the top of the People's Liberation Army. A reshuffle of top brass has seen a virtual clean sweep of all major positions. Speculation continues whether the next party leader and president Xi Jinping will be the political and economic reformer that, by general consensus, the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1075164/new-breed-generals-pla-bring-professionalism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1075164/new-breed-generals-pla-bring-professionalism?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Conservatives appear poised to dominate the Communist Party's new leadership as furious horse trading continues ahead of next week's transfer of power in Beijing. The latest consensus among outgoing leaders, their immediate successors and influential party elders is that the party's innermost circle may still be subject to last-minute changes ahead of the 18th congress starting on Thursday, according to sources close to the inner workings of the once-a-decade generational transition. However,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1074459/partys-old-guard-dominates-latest-line-inner-most-council?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1074459/partys-old-guard-dominates-latest-line-inner-most-council?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Shaanxi party secretary Zhao Leji is a strong candidate to become the Communist Party's personnel chief following the leadership transition at its 18th national congress next month. If the 55-year-old does succeed Li Yuanchao as head of the party's central organisation department he will also become a member of the party's powerful Politburo. And given his relative youth, that would put him in a prime position for membership of the party's Politburo Standing Committee in five years'... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1071896/zhao-leji-man-whose-time-has-come?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1071896/zhao-leji-man-whose-time-has-come?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 While Wang Yang has certainly left his mark as Guangdong party secretary, it is safe to assume the province's citizens will not be looking back on his tenure with the same reverence as they did when Lin Ruo left office. More than two decades after Lin's freewheeling reign came to an end, his death at age 88 earlier this month stirred an outpouring of grief that most modern Chinese leaders could only dream of. Everywhere, journalists, academics and common citizens paid tribute to the liberal... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070656/guangdongs-wang-yang-more-style-substance-some-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1070656/guangdongs-wang-yang-more-style-substance-some-say?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 "Empty the cage and let the right birds in" was Wang Yang's main economic prescription when he became Guangdong's Communist Party chief in December 2007. Calling for a switch from labour-intensive and polluting industries such as toys, textiles and plastics manufacturing, Wang argued that a healthier economic structure, featuring cleaner and higher-value industries, was the only way out for the southern export-hub. The global financial meltdown in 2008 and the European debt crisis that followed... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1069824/wang-yang-party-chief-who-transformed-guangdong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1069824/wang-yang-party-chief-who-transformed-guangdong?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 China is likely to have a more high-profile first lady and first family after Xi Jinping succeeds Hu Jintao as president in March, following his elevation to the post of Communist Party general secretary next month. Xi's wife, folk singer Peng Liyuan , is better known than her husband to most mainlanders, but she has adopted a lower profile since he became vice-president in 2008. Overseas media said Americans were disappointed in February when the 49-year-old soprano was not part of Xi's... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1068824/new-role-first-lady-peng-liyuan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1068824/new-role-first-lady-peng-liyuan?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The People's Liberation Army's new air force commander is an outspoken officer known for his hawkish comments on China's territorial disputes in the East and South China seas. General Ma Xiaotian, 63, who handled the PLA's foreign affairs as its deputy chief of general staff for the past five years, is rare among incumbent senior PLA officers in daring to express a militant view. In May, China and the Philippines were locked in a stand-off over the South China Sea's Scarborough Shoal - known as... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1068931/pla-hawk-ma-xiaotian-flying-ever-higher?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1068931/pla-hawk-ma-xiaotian-flying-ever-higher?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 For clues about how China's leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping might manage the world's second-largest economy, Zhejiang province is a good place to start looking. The 3-1/2 years Xi spent at the helm of the mainland's richest province are regarded as a transformative period, during which Zhejiang expanded its private sector and moved toward cleaner, more innovative industries. After arriving in the autumn of 2003, Xi, as governor and party secretary, set about encouraging factories and heavy industry... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1068825/chinas-leadership-transition-xi-jinpings-time-zhejiang?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1068825/chinas-leadership-transition-xi-jinpings-time-zhejiang?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Xi Jinping, China's leader-in-waiting, fine-tuned his political antennae during 17 years spent as an official in the southeastern province of Fujian. An official in Fuzhou, the provincial capital, who worked under Xi from the 1990s, said Xi always harboured grand ambitions. "On the surface, Xi looked like a mediocre leader who would like to play it safe," he said. "But actually, he was an ambitious politician who wanted to make something big out of his life. "When he was still young, he had... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1068111/xi-jinping-sharpened-his-political-skills-fujian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1068111/xi-jinping-sharpened-his-political-skills-fujian?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Xi Jinping kick-started his political career with a bold move. At the age of 29, Xi turned his back on a life of privilege as a party elder's son in Beijing to accept a posting 250 kilometres away in an obscure, dusty town in Zhengding county, Hebei province. His father, Xi Zhongxun, an ex-guerilla leader close to Mao Zedong, was at the height of his powers, serving as secretary of the party's Central Committee secretariat. Under his wing, the younger Xi seemed to have a guaranteed, easy road to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1067383/xi-jinping-began-career-cadre-rural-hebei?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1067383/xi-jinping-began-career-cadre-rural-hebei?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The People's Liberation Army has begun a new reshuffle of senior officers less than three weeks ahead of the Communist Party's 18th national congress. A source said two generals had been put in position for likely membership of the Central Military Commission (CMC) - the nation's supreme military policymaking body. General Ma Xiaotian, formerly deputy chief of general staff, has been named the new air force commander, while General Zhang Yang, the former political commissar of the Guangzhou... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1067496/two-generals-line-central-military-commission?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1067496/two-generals-line-central-military-commission?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Women hold up half the sky, as the traditional saying goes, but in Chinese politics they account for only a slice of it. So when Sun Chunlan, former head of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, was appointed as Communist Party secretary of Fujian three years ago - only the third women to hold a provincial-level party-secretary position - observers hailed the decision as an affirmation that women would receive more promotions in the near future. Local officials and academics said Sun proved... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1066749/female-fujian-party-chief-popular?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1066749/female-fujian-party-chief-popular?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The commander of the PLA's Jinan Military Area Command, General Fan Changlong, is being seen as a "dark horse" for one of the two military vice-chairmanships of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) after next month's Communist Party leadership transition. Fan has been "elected" one of the 2,270 delegates to the party's five-yearly national congress, which will begin on November 8, and it is generally believed that marks him for further promotion, despite his relatively advanced age -... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1066750/general-fan-changlong-tipped-top-post-china-military-commission?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1066750/general-fan-changlong-tipped-top-post-china-military-commission?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 21 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Aided by age, party tradition, strong connections and the right mix of work experience, General Chang Wanquan is widely considered a front runner to get a top military post at the Communist Party's congress. Already among the 12 men on the PLA's supreme Central Military Commission (CMC), Chang is tipped to claim one of the two vice-chairmanships of the body reserved for active members of the armed forces. The CMC, like most top party bodies, is expected to see major staff turnover during the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1065215/general-chang-wanquan-tipped-top-military-post?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1065215/general-chang-wanquan-tipped-top-military-post?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 China's next leaders need to raise the profile of foreign-policy making in the government hierarchy as the country becomes involved in a broader spectrum of international affairs, analysts say. They say that as more domestic actors become involved in policymaking, the officials in charge of diplomatic affairs lack the seniority needed to co-ordinate them. That has resulted in conflicting perceptions of the handling of external relations. Observers and insiders expect that after the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1060578/vice-premier-foreign-affairs-will-co-ordinate-foreign-policy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1060578/vice-premier-foreign-affairs-will-co-ordinate-foreign-policy?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Whether Hu Jintao is visiting farmers in remote villages or meeting heads of state, Wang Huning is usually by the president's side. He was usually there with Jiang Zemin, too, during the latter's decade at the helm. In fact, Wang has probably appeared in public more often than any other top official in recent years, although he rarely speaks and often goes unrecognised. For two decades, Wang, 57, has served as a trusted adviser and wordsmith to the country's most powerful men. He now heads the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1058180/wang-huning-often-seen-side-two-presidents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1058180/wang-huning-often-seen-side-two-presidents?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 A trusted adviser to both Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao will probably become the vice-premier in charge of China's diplomatic affairs after the upcoming leadership transition, sources say. The selection of Wang Huning, a former academic who heads the party's Policy Research Office, would indicate Beijing's desire to revamp its foreign policy apparatus, which has on occasion suffered from a lack of co-ordination between offices. It is expected Wang, 57, will be elevated to the 25-seat Politburo after... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1058205/top-adviser-wang-huning-tipped-become-vice-premier-enter-politburo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1058205/top-adviser-wang-huning-tipped-become-vice-premier-enter-politburo?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 On the remote grasslands of northeastern China, a politician little known in the West has made a name for himself as a rising leader. Hu Chunhua is already talked of by some as a future president. “I know that in Mongolia they’re saying he could become China’s president one day,” former wrestler Biligungtumar, 43, said in remote Inner Mongolia, referring to the independent country, which neighbours the Chinese region. “He’s our star,” the towering ethnic Mongol athlete said. His comments leave... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1056825/little-hu-inner-mongolia-may-play-big-role-chinas-political-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1056825/little-hu-inner-mongolia-may-play-big-role-chinas-political-future?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Oct 2012 02:00:30 +0000 Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu, widely tipped to succeed iron-fisted security tsar Zhou Yongkang at the Communist Party's 18th national congress, is likely to focus on professional policing rather than political campaigns, analysts say. Professor Mao Shoulong, from Renmin University's school of public administration and policy, said Meng, a suave, 65-year-old State Councillor, will formally replace Zhou as secretary of the party's Political and Legal Affairs Commission at the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1055546/meng-jianzhu-expected-made-security-tsar-national-congress?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1055546/meng-jianzhu-expected-made-security-tsar-national-congress?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Shandong party secretary Jiang Yikang , tipped by some to become Chongqing party boss after the Communist Party's national congress next month, built up political capital working in the general office of the party's Central Committee for 17 years. The position in Zhongnanhai, the leadership compound in central Beijing, gave him access to senior state leaders and he worked under five chiefs: Qiao Shi , Wang Zhaoguo , Wen Jiabao , Zeng Qinghong and Wang Gang . Jiang started his career in Jinan ,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1054876/jiang-yikang-future-chongqing-party-secretary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1054876/jiang-yikang-future-chongqing-party-secretary?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 New details about an earlier internal party poll appear to support widely held expectations that Vice-Premier Wang Qishan and party personnel chief Li Yuanchao will be selected for top leadership posts at the upcoming party congress. Both men, along with leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping and Vice-Premier Li Keqiang , received approval ratings of more than 95 per cent in a poll of top Communist Party leaders in May, according to a party insider. The survey of 370 members and alternate members of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1051888/wang-qishan-li-yuanchao-get-high-approval-ratings-party-poll-insider?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1051888/wang-qishan-li-yuanchao-get-high-approval-ratings-party-poll-insider?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:00:00 +0000 As China prepares to usher in a new leadership this autumn, eyes are not only on Hu Jintao's likely successors - Xi Jinping and the other so-called fifth generation Communist Party leaders - but the chosen few expected to come to power a decade from now. Already, observers have widely identified seven up-and-coming party officials tipped to be among those presented to the Great Hall of the People when the sixth generation takes the helm after the 20th national party congress in 2022. These... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1051000/seven-rising-stars-tipped-lead-sixth-generation-chinas-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1051000/seven-rising-stars-tipped-lead-sixth-generation-chinas-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The anti-corruption fighter Ma Wen is surprisingly forthcoming and approachable for a senior mainland official. At this year's Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in March, Ma, 64, spoke candidly with reporters about the central government's efforts in tightening spending and clamping down on official corruption. But when prodded with questions about Wang Lijun, the former Chongqing police chief who sought refuge at the United States consulate in Chengdu in February after a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1050447/ma-wen-leader-anti-corruption-drive-contends-politburo-place?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1050447/ma-wen-leader-anti-corruption-drive-contends-politburo-place?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 China is often thought of as a nation of older leaders. But no one has defied that description quite like Lu Hao . He was just 18 when, on a spring day in Xian in 1985, he became the youngest Communist Party member in Shaanxi since the Cultural Revolution and the only high school student in the Communist Youth League of China (CYL) Shaanxi committee. As a high school teacher recalled to mainland media in 2008: "The boy had something special." In many stages of his career he has often been the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1048945/chinas-leadership-transition-feature-series-lu-hao?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1048945/chinas-leadership-transition-feature-series-lu-hao?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Lu Zhangong has two nicknames - "Lu Haixi" and "Lu Zhongyuan" - references to two of his signal achievements as he worked his way up the party hierarchy in the past eight years, first as party chief of Fujian and now Henan. In a sign of his political shrewdness and a testament to his reputation as an economic reformer, Lu successfully lobbied the central government to set up the "Haixi" (Western Taiwan Strait) Economic Zone in Fujian and the Zhongyuan (Central Plains) Economic Zone in Henan as... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1048039/shrewd-lu-zhangong-earned-his-stripes-advancing-fujian-and-henan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1048039/shrewd-lu-zhangong-earned-his-stripes-advancing-fujian-and-henan?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 He was once the youngest government minister on the mainland. Now he serves as one of the youngest provincial party chiefs, and is a powerful contender for a future top leadership post. Sun Zhengcai , 49, became party secretary of Jilin province in 2009. Jilin joined "the trillionaire GDP club" last year, when its economic output hit 1.04 trillion yuan (HK$1.3 trillion), a 14 per cent rise on the previous year. By comparison, the nation's average growth rate was 9.2 per cent. The achievement was... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1047214/sun-zhengcai-being-tipped-future-top-leader?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1047214/sun-zhengcai-being-tipped-future-top-leader?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Despite a recent series of scandals in Hunan , provincial party secretary Zhou Qiang is still seen as a contender for promotion to the powerful Politburo at the Communist Party's upcoming 18th national congress. A lawyer by training, he is seen as a rising political star within the tuanpai, the Communist Youth League camp that is the power base of party general secretary Hu Jintao for years. Zhou became head of the youth league in 1998, at the age of 38, and headed it for eight years before... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1043368/hunan-stalwart-zhou-qiang-set-politburo-despite-li-wangyang-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1043368/hunan-stalwart-zhou-qiang-set-politburo-despite-li-wangyang-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Han Zheng was 48 when first named mayor of Shanghai in 2003, the youngest person to hold the post in 50 years. Unlike most political stars in the party's orbit, Han did not cut his teeth on a rotation through backwater postings followed by a stint at a second-tier city - he has spent his entire career in Shanghai. And that has proved both a blessing and curse. Han is part of the Shanghai clique, drawing power and possibly protection from former leader Jiang Zemin . But his lack of experience in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1042665/shanghai-mayor-han-zheng-crossroads?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1042665/shanghai-mayor-han-zheng-crossroads?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Guo Jinlong, a shrewd political survivor and former athlete, found himself in the eye of a storm within days of his appointment as Beijing party chief in early July. Widely perceived as a loyal henchman of Communist Party general secretary Hu Jintao, Guo, 65, was promoted to party boss of the capital on July 3 after less than five years as the capital's mayor. His emergence as a surprise, early winner of the behind-the-scenes horse trading added intrigue in the lead-up to this year's... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1041840/beijing-party-boss-guo-jinlong-populist-politician-whos-star-rising?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1041840/beijing-party-boss-guo-jinlong-populist-politician-whos-star-rising?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The number of woman politicians who have shaped the nation can be counted on one hand. It's one of the smallest elite clubs in the world, but Liu Yandong may soon crack its doors slightly wider open. Liu, 66, has an outside chance of becoming the first woman member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the party's top decision-making body. And depending on how she performs in the role - if she gets it - China could redefine its political image away from the dour technocrats and grim generals that... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1040175/breaking-glass-ceiling-politburo-standing-committee?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1040175/breaking-glass-ceiling-politburo-standing-committee?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Liu Yunshan , head of the Communist Party's Publicity Department and widely tipped as a strong candidate for elevation to the Politburo Standing Committee, has spared no effort in touting President Hu Jintao's new motto on party propaganda. On September 6, he presided over a conference to mobilise state media to step up coverage of how grass-roots people have upheld the ideology of the party. Shifting the emphasis to ordinary people is a campaign launched by Hu, under the banner "Go to the grass... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1039379/mainland-propaganda-chief-liu-yunshan-eyes-top-party-post?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1039379/mainland-propaganda-chief-liu-yunshan-eyes-top-party-post?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Few benefited more than Wang Yang when the murder of a British businessman in a Chongqing hotel room late last year triggered a chain of events that ultimately ended the political career of the city's party chief, Bo Xilai. As the father of "Chongqing model", Bo was seen as the standard bearer for a hardline brand of Communist Party leadership that focused on robust economic growth driven by state-run companies, severe crackdowns on crime and corruption, with a dose of Mao-era nostalgia. Then,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1038564/guangdongs-liberal-party-boss-wang-yang-may-still-be-ahead-his-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1038564/guangdongs-liberal-party-boss-wang-yang-may-still-be-ahead-his-time?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Tianjin party chief Zhang Gaoli prefers to work away from the spotlight but that may change as momentum builds for making him a member of the Politburo Standing Committee at the upcoming party congress. His preference to remain low-key was tested recently when Tianjin hosted the World Economic Forum, which saw global business leaders and domestic officials flock to the northern port city to hold discussions under the banner of "Creating the Future Economy". Zhang, 65, already a member of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1037203/tianjin%E2%80%99s-party-boss-zhang-gaoli-readies-limelight?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1037203/tianjin%E2%80%99s-party-boss-zhang-gaoli-readies-limelight?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Shanghai party chief Yu Zhengsheng, a "princeling" tipped for promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee at the 18th party congress, has a knack for using both the carrot and the stick. The 67-year-old Yu, one of the Politburo's most senior members, has developed good political judgment after enduring many political crises, including his survival during the Cultural Revolution despite his blue-blood background. The September 1 edition of the party's political journal Qiushi, or Seeking Truth,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1031954/shanghai-chief-yu-zhengshengs-well-prepared-join-party-elite?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1031954/shanghai-chief-yu-zhengshengs-well-prepared-join-party-elite?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000 When Bo Xilai's dramatic fall left a power vacuum in the booming metropolis of Chongqing earlier this year, Zhang Dejiang was just the man Beijing needed to step in and clean up the chaos. Once installed, Zhang quickly moved to reorganise the government and reassure Hong Kong, Taiwanese and overseas investors who worried about instability in the mega-city of nearly 30 million. Holding the high-profile post as Chongqing party secretary while retaining his title as vice-premier made Zhang, 66, an... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1030269/zhang-dejiang-rise-iron-fisted-enforcer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1030269/zhang-dejiang-rise-iron-fisted-enforcer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:00:00 +0000