Next Generation of Chinese Leadership

China’s NPC: Who are the top men tapped to support Xi Jinping?

China’s National People’s Congress wrapped up on Monday after announcing a host of top officials that will assist Xi.

A general view of the closing session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

China's National People’s Congress approves the next generation of Chinese leadership every five years.

Published On 13th March 2023. 

While Chinese President Xi Jinping has risen to become the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong after securing an unprecedented third term in power, he is surrounded by a group of key officials that support his governance.

At the top of the hierarchy is the State Council, China’s “chief administrative authority,” headed by a 10-person executive committee that oversees provincial administrations and 26 ministries.

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While many of the top posts have traditionally been handed out with an eye on keeping China’s different political factions happy, Xi, who was reelected on Friday by a unanimous vote of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, has sidelined rival groupings such as the Youth League, associated with former President Hu Jintao, former Premier Li Keqiang and former Vice Premier Wang Yang.

In their place, Xi has inserted a crop of loyalists that were announced over the course of the National People’s Congress, which wrapped up on Monday.

“Greater Party control over the government apparatus means that Xi will be able to bring the state even more under his personal control and ensure maximum conformity with his ideology and policy aims,” said Connor Swank, an analyst at the Center for Advanced China Research.

Carston Holz, an expert on the Chinese economy and visiting professor at Princeton University, said that the top appointees, despite their prominence, will ultimately have “little authority to undertake significant reforms without Xi Jinping’s approval”.

“Xi Jinping’s predilections are well-known, from directing the economic development trajectory to securing the financial system under Party control,” Holz said.

Some of the top officials supporting Xi include:

Premier Li Qiang

Replacing the former premier, Li may be best known to outsiders for instituting Shanghai’s controversial “zero COVID” lockdowns between March and June last year as Communist Party Secretary in the country’s largest metropolis. Since October, Li has served as the second highest-ranking member of the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, the seven-member committee consisting of the party’s top leadership.

Li, 63, is a well-known Xi loyalist and has been a member of Xi’s patronage network since he served under Xi when he was Communist Party Secretary of Zhejiang Province in the 2000s. Li’s power is seen to “come directly from Xi personally,” according to Adami Ni, editor of the China Neican website.

“This makes the current situation special if not unique. His distance from Xi is closer than what you may expect between a new premier and the Party head,” Ni said.

“The reason for the difference and distance traditionally is that the first and second-ranked Party officials came into their position often through political compromise that takes into the interest of different networks and groups in the Party.”

Executive Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang

Ding, 60, is also the director of the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, a position he has held since 2017 and works closely with Xi as his de facto chief of staff. In October, Ding also joined the elite Politburo Standing Committee, cementing a top place in the Chinese leadership for at least the next five years.

Ding started his political career in Shanghai, where he first met Xi, and is widely considered a close confidant of the Chinese leader. Unlike other top officials, Ding has never served as Communist Party secretary of a province or big city, a typical path to power in the highly structured Chinese leadership.

Vice Premier He Lifeng

He, 68, will take on the economic portfolio in place of outgoing Harvard-educated economist Liu He. As the former head of the National Development and Reform Commission, He is seen as a longtime Xi loyalist but also a “highly capable technocrat,” according to the Brookings Institution, with a PhD in economics.

He will work closely with Yi Gang, the governor of the People’s Bank of China, who survived the latest shake-up despite nearing retirement age. The duo will face major challenges as China tries to get the economy back on track following the end of “zero COVID,” including a low birth rate, a long-running property crisis, and slowing growth, as reflected in Beijing’s modest gross domestic product (GDP) target of 5 percent for 2023.

Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing

Zhang brings corporate experience as the former chairperson of military contractor China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco) and has served as the party secretary of Liaoning Province, mayor of Tianjin and mayor of Chongqing. He also has a PhD in economics and is regarded as another seasoned technocrat, according to analysts.

Foreign Minister and State Councilor Qin Gang

At 56, Qin is one of the younger members of the State Council. Qin was promoted to foreign minister in December but did not hold his first press conference until this month. After blasting the United States for its “reckless” behaviour towards China, the top diplomat is expected to continue the strident “wolf warrior” tone adopted by Beijing in foreign affairs in recent years. Qin is a career diplomat who has served in a number of high-profile positions, including Chinese ambassador to the US from 2021 to 2023.

中国全国人大：谁是指定支持习近平的高层人物？

  中国全国人民代表大会周一闭幕，宣布了一批将协助习近平的高级官员。

  全国人民代表大会闭幕式在北京人民大会堂举行。

  中国全国人民代表大会每五年批准一次中国下一代领导层。

  发布于 2023 年 3 月 13 日。

  中国国家主席习近平史无前例地第三次执政，成为自毛泽东以来最有权势的中国领导人，但他周围有一群支持他治理的重要官员。

  最高层是国务院，它是中国的“最高行政机关”，由一个 10 人组成的执行委员会领导，负责监督省级行政机构和 26 个部委。

  继续阅读 4 项清单：

  • 随着习主席开始第三个任期，中国的下一步是什么？

  • 中国习近平敦促私营企业“富而有爱”。

  • 关键问题和参与者：习近平担任中国国家主席的未来五年。

  • 中国人大任命李强为新任总理。

  虽然传统上许多最高职位的分配都是为了让中国不同的政治派别满意，但周五在中国橡皮图章议会一致投票中再次当选的习近平却排挤了共青团、青年团等竞争对手。 与前国家主席胡锦涛、前总理李克强、前副总理汪洋有联系。

  习近平在他们的位置上插入了一批在周一结束的全国人民代表大会期间宣布的效忠者。

  “党对政府机构的更大控制意味着习近平将能够将国家更多地置于他个人的控制之下，并确保最大限度地符合他的意识形态和政策目标，”高级中国研究中心分析师康纳·斯万克表示。

  中国经济专家、普林斯顿大学客座教授卡斯顿·霍尔兹表示，最高任命者尽管地位显赫，但最终“在没有习近平批准的情况下几乎没有权力进行重大改革”。

  “习近平的偏好是众所周知的，从指导经济发展轨迹到确保金融体系受党控制，”霍尔茨说。

  支持习近平的一些高级官员包括：

  李强总理

  李克强接替前总理，为外界所熟知的可能是去年 3 月至 6 月期间，作为中国最大大都市的市委书记，上海实行了颇具争议的“零新冠”封锁措施。 自10月以来，李克强一直担任中共中央政治局常务委员会的第二位级别最高的成员，该委员会由党的最高领导层组成，由七名成员组成。

  63岁的李是著名的习近平忠实拥护者，自2000年代担任浙江省委书记时在习近平手下任职以来，一直是习近平的支持网络的成员。 李克强的权力被视为“直接来自习近平本人”。

  “这使得当前的情况即使不是独一无二的，也是特殊的。 他与习近平的距离比你想象的新总理与习近平之间的距离还要近

  他将与中国人民银行行长易纲密切合作，易纲尽管已接近退休年龄，但在最近的一次人事变动中幸存下来。 “零新冠”结束后，经济将重回正轨，包括低出生率、长期的房地产危机和增长放缓，正如北京将 5% 的适度国内生产总值 (GDP) 目标所反映的那样。 2023 年。

  张国庆副总理

  张先生拥有担任军事承包商中国北方工业集团公司（Norinco）前董事长的企业经验，并曾担任辽宁省委书记、天津市市长和重庆市市长。 他还拥有博士学位。 分析师称，他拥有经济学博士学位，被视为另一位经验丰富的技术官僚。

” 零新冠疫情”，包括低出生率、长期的房地产危机和增长放缓，正如北京2023年国内生产总值(GDP)适度增长5%的目标所反映的那样。

   张国庆副总理

   张先生拥有担任军事承包商中国北方工业集团公司（Norinco）前董事长的企业经验，并曾担任辽宁省委书记、天津市市长和重庆市市长。 他还拥有博士学位。 分析师称，他拥有经济学博士学位，被视为另一位经验丰富的技术官僚。

   外交部长兼国务委员秦刚

   56岁的秦是较年轻的国务院委员之一。 秦去年12月晋升为外交部长，但直到本月才举行首次新闻发布会。 在谴责美国对华“鲁莽”行为后，这位最高外交官预计将延续北京近年来在外交事务中采取的尖锐“战狼”语气。 -个人职务，包括 2021 年至 2023 年中国驻美国大使。