https://www.scmp.com/rss/323491/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com When Xi Jinping outlined his political blueprint for the next 30 years at the Communist Party congress last year, it took him three and a half hours to articulate his vision for the country. Now, to mark the first anniversary of his speech, the party’s official mouthpiece has made a no less ambitious attempt to visualise the Chinese president’s doctrines. The result, published on the WeChat account of People’s Daily on Thursday, is a complex colour-coded “mind map” consisting of 30 separate... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2169151/simple-guide-xi-jinping-thought-heres-how-chinas-official-media?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/2169151/simple-guide-xi-jinping-thought-heres-how-chinas-official-media?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Oct 2018 09:06:24 +0000 Xi Jinping’s push to repeal the term limits of the Chinese presidency – a plan to be discussed and, no doubt, approved at the National People’s Congress in Beijing in early March – is the latest development to be seized on by those who suggest China is in the grip of an emerging autocracy. Another such moment came at the 19th Party Congress last October, when the lack of a successor to Xi became clear. Bit by bit the signs seem to be adding up, supporting the idea of a Xi leadership fortified... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2134912/true-test-president-xi-will-be-when-chinas-luck-runs-out?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2134912/true-test-president-xi-will-be-when-chinas-luck-runs-out?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Mar 2018 05:15:00 +0000 China’s Communist Party elite will gather in Beijing for three days from Monday to formally endorse decisions on who will lead the country’s next government and other state bodies, state-run news agency Xinhua reported on Saturday. The meeting will take place a week before the annual parliamentary meetings, which include the formal announcement of the president, premier and other top state and cabinet officials. A proposal to approve these positions will be reviewed at the meeting, Xinhua said.... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2134568/date-set-decision-day-chinas-next-top-government-line?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2134568/date-set-decision-day-chinas-next-top-government-line?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Feb 2018 09:00:26 +0000 A “reticent” general who was instrumental in the break-up of the strategic missile force he headed – even though it was not in his interests – is expected to become China’s new defence minister, sources said. General Wei Fenghe was named as one of the members of the Communist Party’s powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) on October 25. Wei, the last commander of the Second Artillery Corps – before it became the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force – is known as a strategist whose political... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2134555/reticent-general-rockets-ranks-central-military?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2134555/reticent-general-rockets-ranks-central-military?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Feb 2018 06:30:00 +0000 Wang Qishan, China’s former formidable anti-corruption tsar, has defied political convention to hold on to a seat in the nation’s top legislature, paving the way for him to remain a player in state affairs for years to come. Wang, 69, stepped down from the supreme, seven-member Politburo Standing Committee in October after reaching the Communist Party’s unofficial retirement age of 68. The South China Morning Post reported in December that Wang, who rolled out Chinese President Xi Jinping’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2131097/chinas-retired-anticorruption-tsar-wang-qishan-holds?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2131097/chinas-retired-anticorruption-tsar-wang-qishan-holds?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Jan 2018 14:30:30 +0000 Zhou Xiaochuan, the long-serving governor of the People’s Bank of China, was not included on a new list of the nation’s top political advisory body, the strongest signal yet he may be about to retire. Zhou, who has served as vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference since 2013, is not being re-selected as a member of its 13th national committee, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The absence signals Zhou – who turns 70 on Monday – is likely to retire from... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2130541/chinas-central-bank-boss-zhou-xiaochuan-about-retire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2130541/chinas-central-bank-boss-zhou-xiaochuan-about-retire?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Jan 2018 07:22:56 +0000 A closed-door meeting of the ruling Communist Party on Friday endorsed a proposal to include “Xi Jinping Thought”, the president’s political theory, in China’s constitution, Xinhua reported. The proposal – to be formally approved by the national legislature’s full session in March – would make Xi the first sitting Chinese leader to see his name in the constitution since Mao Zedong. It follows revisions made in October at the party congress that saw Xi’s theory – Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2129760/top-cadres-propose-adding-xi-jinping-thought-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2129760/top-cadres-propose-adding-xi-jinping-thought-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Jan 2018 15:00:30 +0000 China's point man on Sino-US trade ties is set to move on to be the country’s top political adviser and take direct charge of the Communist Party’s public engagement campaigns. The appearance of Wang Yang, 63, at a national party gathering on engaging non-party sections of society is the latest sign that the former Chinese representative in high-level economic talks with the United States will take up the outreach portfolio. It also comes as China’s activities abroad are under greater scrutiny... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2128703/chinas-go-man-us-trade-take-communist-partys-top-job?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2128703/chinas-go-man-us-trade-take-communist-partys-top-job?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 17 Jan 2018 13:00:30 +0000 President Xi Jinping had two big challenges to navigate in 2017. The first was the election of US President Donald Trump, and how he would handle his new, very unorthodox counterpart. This issue was particularly important because, at least during his 2016 campaign, Trump deployed fiery language about China, extreme criticisms even by the standards of the more recent campaigns. Analysis: What President Xi Jinping’s new leadership team means for China’s economy Xi’s second was the 19th party... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2126175/politicking-over-and-team-place-2018-when-chinas-xi-has-deliver?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2126175/politicking-over-and-team-place-2018-when-chinas-xi-has-deliver?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Dec 2017 06:16:01 +0000 2017 was as eventful a year for Asia as it was for us at This Week in Asia reporting it. Covering the world’s most happening region can be its own reward, but we also bagged gold as the best news website at the Asian Digital Media Awards 2017, presented by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN IFRA) and Google. We welcome the recognition that we are covering the region right, and would like to thank our readers for all the support. Rolling stock to laughing stock: why is... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/2125598/year-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/2125598/year-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Dec 2017 02:04:59 +0000 President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign has been a topic of discussion since it was initiated five years ago. In his 19th party congress speech, laying out his goals for the Communist Party and for China as a whole, Xi renewed his pledge to tackle graft. The campaign has already reached over 1.5 million officials. Why, then, did Xi again single out fighting corruption as a key priority? Xi made it clear in his speech; he sees corruption as a threat – to the party in particular. This... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2125369/can-xi-jinpings-corruption-battle-china-place-people-above?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2125369/can-xi-jinpings-corruption-battle-china-place-people-above?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Dec 2017 03:48:02 +0000 Last month, when former US president Barack Obama gave a speech at a business conference in Shanghai, I was in the audience. There, Obama spoke to more than 2,500 representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises, both at home and abroad. In his first post-presidency speech in China, which was also his first in Shanghai in eight years, “cooperation” was a key word. I was also there when Obama spoke in Shanghai eight years ago, on his first visit to China. It was in the middle of November... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2124120/life-after-high-office-obama-gives-speeches-while-retired?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2124120/life-after-high-office-obama-gives-speeches-while-retired?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Dec 2017 03:24:48 +0000 President Xi Jinping’s key economic adviser Liu He is likely to be promoted to vice-premier in March, as Xi assembles a new team to steer the world’s second largest economy over the next five years, according to sources with knowledge of the arrangement. After spending his first term amassing unprecedented power through a much trumpeted anti-corruption crusade, Xi is now under increasing pressure to tackle the daunting challenges facing the US$12 trillion economy that range from ballooning debts... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2123716/key-xi-jinping-adviser-set-major-role-team-steering?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2123716/key-xi-jinping-adviser-set-major-role-team-steering?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Dec 2017 00:00:45 +0000 Wang Qishan, China’s formidable former anti-corruption tsar, will continue to wield political influence in new Communist Party and state roles carved out for him by president and party chief Xi Jinping. He has been given the rare privilege of attending meetings of the party’s supreme Politburo Standing Committee as a non-voting member, despite having stood down from the highest decision-making body in Chinese politics in October. Meanwhile, he is also expected to be named vice-president – a less... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2122382/wang-qishan-still-attending-top-communist-party?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2122382/wang-qishan-still-attending-top-communist-party?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Dec 2017 07:15:30 +0000 When a ministerial-level Chinese Communist Party theorist came down to Hong Kong to brief officials here on the ruling party’s latest decisions, the city might not have been aware it was the same for neighbouring Macau. Another senior official from the Development Research Centre of the State Council was simultaneously giving a similar briefing to Macau government officials and representatives from different sectors on the recently concluded 19th party congress. Hong Kong and Macau being the two... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2121612/hong-kong-must-engage-chinas-grand-plans-national-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2121612/hong-kong-must-engage-chinas-grand-plans-national-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Nov 2017 07:46:56 +0000 The US$250 billion worth of deals announced during US President Donald Trump’s state visit to China made headlines. And, while the value of the newly signed and legally binding contracts in the package may be much smaller, the deals will help the two countries to narrow the trade gap somewhat. However, what represents more substantial changes is the set of longer-term reform plans on easing market access recently announced by Beijing. This could be partly in anticipation of tough US action on... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2120354/did-us-play-role-chinas-long-term-market-reform-plans-wait?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2120354/did-us-play-role-chinas-long-term-market-reform-plans-wait?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Nov 2017 03:17:30 +0000 The violation of political principles is no less damaging to China’s Communist Party than corruption, and meeting the party’s political standards should be the paramount criterion when considering cadres for promotion, according to its new personnel chief. In an article published on Thursday in the state mouthpiece People’s Daily, Chen Xi, head of the party’s Organisation Department, accused some senior cadres of losing their faith in socialism and turning to Western concepts of democracy. Xi... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2120217/chinas-cadres-should-believe-party-not-gods-and-ghosts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2120217/chinas-cadres-should-believe-party-not-gods-and-ghosts?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Nov 2017 11:30:45 +0000 China’s 19th party congress saw a new leadership team formed, with new political ideology added to the Communist Party’s constitution. It was also announced that ­socialism with Chinese characteristics had entered a “new era”. As President Xi Jinping’s report to the congress put it, the party must not only have a new look but also new achievements in this new era. So, what will be the top priorities for Xi and the party in the next five years? Top of the list will be to improve governance of the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2119833/why-xi-jinping-needs-stronger-communist-party-achieve-his?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2119833/why-xi-jinping-needs-stronger-communist-party-achieve-his?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Nov 2017 09:30:45 +0000 Promoting young cadres was not a priority for Communist Party members in Beijing last month when they voted on the membership of its new Central Committee, the largest of the party’s elite ruling bodies. Only two of the 376 members of the new body were born in the 1970s, making it the oldest Central Committee in three decades. That’s a stark contrast to the Central Committee formed a decade earlier, which was the youngest in half a century and included 25 people born in the 1960s. The two... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2118939/why-chinese-communist-partys-largest-elite-body-now-has?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2118939/why-chinese-communist-partys-largest-elite-body-now-has?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Nov 2017 06:07:32 +0000 China’s ruling Communist Party unveiled its new top leadership at the 19th National Congress: seven men in their 60s, stiffly lining up to the world’s attention. Not surprisingly, no women. And, in the 25-person Politburo, there is only one. In the party’s near-100-year history, a woman has never made to the powerful Politburo Standing Committee. Also last month, the Harvey Weinstein scandal in Hollywood brought sexual harassment to the fore and sparked a global online follow-up movement, as... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2119281/china-model-gender-equality-reality-would-say-otherwise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2119281/china-model-gender-equality-reality-would-say-otherwise?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Nov 2017 02:15:30 +0000 As US President Donald Trump stepped out of a car outside the Great Hall of the People for a welcoming ceremony on Thursday morning, a line of Chinese officials standing on the red carpet rolled out before a flight of imposing stairs waited to greet him. The presence of this group of top officials, whose hands Trump shook one by one, shed light on who the central figures will be who will help shape China’s relations with the US over the next five years. Whereas in the Trump administration... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2119239/receiving-line-donald-trump-offers-rare-glimpse?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2119239/receiving-line-donald-trump-offers-rare-glimpse?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Nov 2017 02:00:30 +0000 The Chinese Communist Party has appointed the former party chief of the coastal province of Fujian to take charge of its relations with non-party groups at home and abroad, including Hong Kong and Taiwan. State media reported on Tuesday that You Quan had been appointed the head of the party’s United Front Work Department on Tuesday, after handing over his position in the southeastern province to the former governor. You’s new responsibilities will include rallying support from business elites in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2118815/chinas-new-non-party-liaison-chief-aims-boost-support?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2118815/chinas-new-non-party-liaison-chief-aims-boost-support?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Nov 2017 14:08:00 +0000 Of the three political parties today that pack serious global pop – the Communist Party in China, and the Democratic and Republican parties in America – China’s comes across right now as the least disorganised and ineffective. Even so, is it possible President Xi Jinping is now less like an all-powerful Mao Zedong and more like a coalition-canny Abraham Lincoln, whose cabinet famously included quarrelling voices? Some 19th party congress evaluators size up the new Politburo Standing Committee as... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2118604/can-chinas-ideology-tsar-wang-huning-be-steadying-hand-sino?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2118604/can-chinas-ideology-tsar-wang-huning-be-steadying-hand-sino?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Nov 2017 09:47:01 +0000 In the early 1980s, when Deng Xiaoping designed the constitutional principle of “one country, two systems” for Hong Kong’s transfer of sovereignty, it was an open secret that he, as well as the leaders in Beijing at the time, had Taiwan in mind – that one day, the island could be reunited with the motherland under the same governing formula. Time flies and things change; 20 years after Hong Kong’s handover, it’s still unlikely that Taiwan will appreciate the Hong Kong model, given the ups and... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2118481/can-taiwanese-academic-and-chinese-patriot-serve-new-role-model-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2118481/can-taiwanese-academic-and-chinese-patriot-serve-new-role-model-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Nov 2017 09:11:23 +0000 On a summer afternoon on June 25, 2007, about 400 Communist Party elites, including its Central Committee members and other leading officials, converged in Beijing for what was billed as an “important strategic decision” in the party’s history. For the first time, they were invited to participate in a straw poll to recommend provisional candidates for the 25-member Politburo to be sworn in later that year, immediately following the 17th party congress. Each participant was given an orange ticket... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2118352/analysis-how-xi-jinping-revived-old-methods-abandoning-intraparty?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2118352/analysis-how-xi-jinping-revived-old-methods-abandoning-intraparty?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Nov 2017 02:03:11 +0000 Five years ago when China completed its once-a-decade power transition from the president-premier combination of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao to the current Xi Jinping-Li Keqiang leadership at the 18th congress of the ruling Communist Party, state media scrambled to trumpet the country’s power succession system. Calling it similar to the historical “abdication system” – under which China’s emperors voluntarily handed power to chosen members of the next generation, an article in the party magazine... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2118353/flaws-xi-jinpings-no-designated-successor-gambit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2118353/flaws-xi-jinpings-no-designated-successor-gambit?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Nov 2017 10:00:34 +0000 For years the challenges of high office have turned the locks of Western politicians grey. Now, after a decade-long bias against publicly sporting salt-and-pepper hairstyles, China’s political leaders are discovering the value of keeping a little silver on top. At least five of the newly elected Politburo’s 25 members appeared in official portraits released last week with grey hair. That marked a departure from a tradition of Chinese leaders sporting mops of shiny black hair despite being in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117692/grey-new-black-five-politburo-members-snub-dyeing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117692/grey-new-black-five-politburo-members-snub-dyeing?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Nov 2017 01:00:48 +0000 Xi Jinping’s former college classmate has been appointed to a senior position leading the Communist Party’s top academy in a promotion that broke with convention. The appointment of Chen Xi, the party’s personnel chief, as president of the Central Party School is a departure from precedent for filling the post. For nearly three decades, the post has been held by the first ranking member of the party’s secretariat, a role filled by a member of the top Politburo Standing Committee. But Chen is a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2118275/xis-college-roommate-latest-close-ally-given-senior?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2118275/xis-college-roommate-latest-close-ally-given-senior?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Nov 2017 07:00:00 +0000 Three Politburo members, including a prominent protégé of President Xi Jinping, will embark on a nationwide tour this weekend to promote the president’s ideology and policy initiatives. Observers said the decision to include Chen Miner, Xi’s close associate and one of the youngest Politburo members, in the group pointed to his expanding role in the leadership. The Politburo trio will be part of a 36-member “central publicity team” that from Sunday will go to companies, villages, schools,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2118195/xi-protege-high-powered-propaganda-team-spread?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2118195/xi-protege-high-powered-propaganda-team-spread?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Nov 2017 14:15:15 +0000 All President Xi Jinping’s key speeches in over past five years can be summarised with one message: ensuring the leading role of the Communist Party in all aspects of life, according to his key ally Wang Qishan. The former anti-corruption chief’s succinct summary of Xi’s speeches – which have featured in hundreds, if not thousands, of publications on the mainland – came as the party enshrined the president’s political thoughts into the party charter and guide to action at last month’s 19th party... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2118170/xis-epic-speeches-can-be-summed-one-simple-message-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2118170/xis-epic-speeches-can-be-summed-one-simple-message-says?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Nov 2017 11:09:54 +0000 The Communist Party’s 19th Congress was watched closely by the whole world. Many commented that the new leadership line-up didn’t include a clear potential heir, raising chances that general secretary Xi Jinping might stay in office beyond 2022. While gaining insight into the opaque system of Chinese politics is intellectually satisfying, what matters to us overseas would still be its economic development and our opportunities. A further look at China’s growth model would help. I believe Xi’s... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117886/china-growth-model-shows-xi-jinpings-vision-will-outshine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117886/china-growth-model-shows-xi-jinpings-vision-will-outshine?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Nov 2017 04:25:54 +0000 It really is a new era. As members of China’s Politburo Standing Committee walked onto the stage to greet the press, it became clear that no successor to President Xi Jinping has been anointed. Instead, three politicians born in the 1960s – Hu Chunhua, Chen Miner and Ding Xuexiang – have become members of the wider Politburo. The old succession model created by Deng Xiaoping, in which the successor was groomed for at least five years on the Standing Committee, is now history. Sources who... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117778/why-xi-jinping-must-ensure-china-has-viable-political?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117778/why-xi-jinping-must-ensure-china-has-viable-political?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2017 09:10:07 +0000 China’s intelligence agencies and its police force are in for a shake-up with the announcement of two key appointments at the top of the national security apparatus. Zhao Kezhi, 63, who has worked closely with two of President Xi Jinping’s trusted aides, had taken over as Communist Party secretary at the Ministry of Public Security, the ministry said on November 1 . He was appointed Minister of Public Security on November 4. Zhao’s predecessor, Guo Shengkun, 63, is staying on as minister for now... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117894/china-appoints-new-communist-party-chief-oversee-police?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117894/china-appoints-new-communist-party-chief-oversee-police?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2017 03:56:23 +0000 Beijing’s public security minister will take over as the country’s top security chief following a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle of the ruling Communist Party. Guo Shengkun, also a new member of the 25-member Politburo, will succeed Meng Jianzhu as party secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Central Committee, state news agency Xinhua reported. Guo for the first time presided over a commission meeting on Tuesday in Beijing. It is not yet clear who will take over... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117844/public-security-minister-guo-shengkun-step-chinas-top?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117844/public-security-minister-guo-shengkun-step-chinas-top?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Oct 2017 14:17:55 +0000 A top Chinese diplomat in Hong Kong said on Tuesday that the “one country, two systems” principle under which the city is governed had been elevated to a new status in the nation’s political system, after President Xi Jinping laid out his guiding principles earlier this month. And Song Ruan, deputy commissioner of Beijing’s foreign ministry office in Hong Kong, said the city must seize the historic opportunities offered by Xi’s vision. At the Communist Party congress, which concluded last week,... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2117827/beijing-official-says-xi-jinping-has-given-one-country-two?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2117827/beijing-official-says-xi-jinping-has-given-one-country-two?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Oct 2017 11:46:52 +0000 President Xi Jinping made a high-profile visit to the birthplace of China’s Communist Party in Shanghai on Tuesday alongside his colleagues from the new Politburo Standing Committee. The symbolic visit echoed the call Xi made at the recently concluded 19th national congress for the party to stay true to its founding mission. And so China’s seven most powerful men flew by private jet from Beijing to the memorial site where the party held its first national congress more than 96 years ago, state... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117826/xi-jinping-top-cadres-visit-birthplace-chinas-communist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117826/xi-jinping-top-cadres-visit-birthplace-chinas-communist?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Oct 2017 11:45:45 +0000 China’s party congress every five years has often been a defining moment for the country’s development. At the just-concluded 19th congress, President Xi Jinping heralded a “new era” of Chinese politics, suggesting the start of a new political cycle. State media has immediately indicated that this is “Xi’s era”, the third in China’s communist-ruled history, with Mao Zedong’s rule between 1949 and 1976 the first era, and the post-Mao era under Deng Xiaoping and his successors Jiang Zemin and Hu... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117740/will-xi-jinpings-new-era-one-man-rule-bring-progress-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117740/will-xi-jinpings-new-era-one-man-rule-bring-progress-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Oct 2017 06:43:10 +0000 Foreign countries must respect China’s sovereignty and understand Beijing’s strategy on Hong Kong in a “comprehensive and accurate manner”, the head of foreign ministry office in Hong Kong told diplomats on Monday. Xie Feng briefed officials from 56 consulates in the city – more than 90 per cent of the total – after this month’s 19th Communist Party congress, where President Xi Jinping presented his blueprint for the path China would take over the next five years. The envoys were reportedly... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2117680/beijings-top-diplomat-hong-kong-tells-foreign-envoys?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/2117680/beijings-top-diplomat-hong-kong-tells-foreign-envoys?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Oct 2017 14:00:15 +0000 As President Donald Trump scanned the cable networks last week, the reports from Beijing must have given him heartburn. President Xi Jinping was billed as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Add the trajectory of China’s economy and Xi’s standing since the 19th Communist Party Congress, as well as the technical and structural means he has to drive policy and check dissent, and one might conclude – as The Economist did – that Xi “has more clout than Donald... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117554/chinas-xi-jinping-playing-dream-role-americas-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117554/chinas-xi-jinping-playing-dream-role-americas-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Oct 2017 04:21:33 +0000 An adviser to Xi Jinping has been named as one of the five architects of the Chinese president’s landmark speech to the Communist Party’s national congress which ended in Beijing last week. The five ranged in expertise from industrial policy to party history and were responsible for drafting the 68-page speech forming the backbone of “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, the latest dogma to be added to the organisation’s constitution. The drafting took 10... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117513/5-men-10-months-and-1-long-speech-cadres-behind-xi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117513/5-men-10-months-and-1-long-speech-cadres-behind-xi?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 12:30:15 +0000 The technocratic credentials of the Communist Party’s Central Committee were boosted at the recently concluded party congress in Beijing, with two former engineers with a background in the defence industries, including the aerospace sector, joining the 204-member body. Zhejiang governor Yuan Jiajun and Jin Zhuanglong, the former chairman of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) who is now first deputy to President Xi Jinping on an important military-civilian integration committee,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117319/chinas-technocrats-blast-two-more-space-engineers-new?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117319/chinas-technocrats-blast-two-more-space-engineers-new?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 09:18:28 +0000 President Xi Jinping’s recent assertion of Beijing’s “comprehensive jurisdiction” over Hong Kong does not undermine the city’s high degree of autonomy, justice minister Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung said on Sunday, as he sought to assuage persistent fears over the mainland’s encroaching powers. Breaking his silence on the subject, Yuen also spoke against the politicising of legal issues as he brushed aside “unfair accusations” that government prosecutors had acted with political motivations when they... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2117484/dont-exaggerate-xis-comments-beijings-comprehensive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2117484/dont-exaggerate-xis-comments-beijings-comprehensive?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 07:45:31 +0000 For journalists covering China’s twice-a-decade Communist Party congress, the defining moment came last Wednesday when President Xi Jinping unveiled his “dream team” which will lead the country into a “new era”. But one face in the new line-up caught the attention of the whole city – Li Zhanshu, Xi’s trusted right-hand man. Ranked third out of seven in the top leadership order, Li is expected to become the head of the national parliament in March, which means he is most likely to be in charge of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2117483/what-new-era-xi-jinpings-dream-team-means-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/2117483/what-new-era-xi-jinpings-dream-team-means-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 07:20:12 +0000 After months of speculation and behind-the-scenes jostling, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China has concluded with outcomes essentially along anticipated lines, with no major surprises. Xi Jinping has emerged with his political authority enhanced; his status as the most powerful Chinese leader in the post-Deng era has been reaffirmed, though it will be premature to put him on par with Mao and Deng. Xi’s vision for the future of China is now enshrined in the party... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2117368/opinion-china-congress-multipolar-world-goes-out-window?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2117368/opinion-china-congress-multipolar-world-goes-out-window?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 06:30:41 +0000 Perhaps it was deliberately to reassure the outside world. In the elite enclave of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 18, while Xi Jinping as General Secretary was giving his epic report, his predecessor but one Jiang Zemin was gazing at his wrist watch, slumbering, sporadically yawning, and, at a couple of points, picking up a splendid white magnifying glass with inbuilt light and gazing quizzically at the speech text. Even the most uncharitable have to admit for a nonagenarian... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2117367/opinion-why-chinas-xi-might-come-regret-all-power?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2117367/opinion-why-chinas-xi-might-come-regret-all-power?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 05:30:53 +0000 When Li Qiang became party chief of Jiangsu in June last year, it was the first time he had worked outside his home province of Zhejiang in more than three decades in politics. Situated on China’s east coast, just north of Zhejiang, Jiangsu has the second-largest gross domestic product of all the country’s provinces – it is second only to the southern economic powerhouse of Guangdong. Jiangsu’s GDP expanded 7.8 per cent in 2016 from a year earlier to more than 7.6 trillion yuan (US$1.14... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117420/li-qiang-keen-supporter-private-sector-and-xi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117420/li-qiang-keen-supporter-private-sector-and-xi?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 03:31:19 +0000 A poverty-stricken province in southwestern China is becoming one of the surest routes to the top of the Communist Party under Xi Jinping. In the eyes of many Chinese communists, the heavily rural province of Guizhou is taking on the status of what one analyst described as a “Holy Land”, serving as a showcase for the president’s achievements and a testing ground for some of the country’s most powerful men. The highest-ranked Guizhou veteran is Li Zhanshu, a top aide to Xi who entered the party’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117430/how-poor-rural-province-became-promised-land-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117430/how-poor-rural-province-became-promised-land-chinas?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 03:00:40 +0000 Beijing has named Li Qiang, a former top aide to President Xi Jinping, as the top boss of Shanghai – an appointment that will be key to realising its ambitions for the city. Li, 58, formerly the party secretary of Jiangsu province, replaced Han Zheng, 63, following Han’s elevation to the Communist Party’s top seven-member decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, Xinhua reported on Sunday. It comes after Shanghai revealed its plan to develop a free-trade port that is fully open to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117465/xi-jinpings-former-secretary-takes-top-job-shanghai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2117465/xi-jinpings-former-secretary-takes-top-job-shanghai?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 02:45:30 +0000 STRONGMAN POLITICS have made a comeback in Asia with the leaders of the two biggest economies in the region granted even more power. President Xi Jinping, China’s most influential leader in decades, emerged from the five-yearly party congress on Tuesday with an even tighter grip on the nation after being elevated to almost godlike status, equalling the late communist founder Mao Zedong. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s mandate was strengthened after his Liberal Democratic Party... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2117366/opinion-can-asia-handle-parallel-rise-strongmen-japan-and-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2117366/opinion-can-asia-handle-parallel-rise-strongmen-japan-and-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 02:02:44 +0000 The Education Bureau seems to have invited controversy by inviting Hong Kong secondary schools to stream a Basic Law seminar featuring a Beijing official next month. But we should be tuning in more, and not only to things pertaining to Hong Kong. If we tuned in to the 19th party congress, we would notice that once again no women can be found in the new Politburo Standing Committee. And regardless how “big” the story of President Xi Jinping’s political stature, elevated to the heights of Deng... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117286/where-are-women-chinas-new-leadership-reveals-equality-low?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117286/where-are-women-chinas-new-leadership-reveals-equality-low?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Oct 2017 01:16:55 +0000