The surprising end of the Party Conference

CHINA ADVISORY - Report 25 Oct 2022 by Andrew Collier

China’s Party Conference ended with a bang in two ways: the clear selection of Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) members in Xi Jinping’s camp, and the unprecedented removal of former Party head Hu Jintao from the Party Conference. In this report I discuss the significance of these two acts.

First, the members selected for the Standing Committee were far more in Xi Jinping’s favor than had been expected. Xi ignored precedent by removing several members under the age of 68: Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference chairman Wang Yang, 67; and Li Keqiang, the premier, 67. The two others were National People’s Congress Chairman Li Zhanshu, 72, Vice-Premier Han Zheng, 68. The departure of Li Keqiang was particularly telling. Although his powers had clearly shrunk in recent years, he was considered a moderating force on Xi Jinping.

The video of former leader Hu Jintao being escorted out of the Party meeting, apparently against his will, led to a flurry of speculative reports in both the Chinese and the English press. There are four main explanations. However, none of these explanations can be proven and each has its flaws.

The strong Party spells the end of reform. As I have argued previously, Xi has newfound power, but over what, exactly?

Now read on...

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