Hu stronger as China unveils new leadership team

FE Team | Published: October 23, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

BEIJING, Oct 22 (AFP): China Monday unveiled a new leadership team expected to give President Hu Jintao a stronger hand in ruling the country for five more years while a successor is groomed to take over in 2012.
Hu, 64, was given a second term as head of the ruling Communist Party and the nation's armed forces, following more than a week of closed-door meetings in Beijing during which he worked to consolidate his grip on power.
As the nation's nine new leaders were presented to the press at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, he said he was determined to push ahead with the nation's historic modernisation drive-but not to do so at any cost.
"We will be firmly committed to development, which is the country's top priority in governing and rejuvenating the country," he said.
"We will strive for scientific development by putting people first and making it comprehensive, balanced and sustainable."
Following his re-appointments as head of the party and military, Hu is widely expected to receive a second term as state president when parliament meets in March next year.
Four new younger leaders were also promoted on Monday to work alongside Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao in the party's nine-member Politburo Standing Committee, which is the country's ultimate decision-making body.
The new Standing Committee and the 204-member Central Committee underneath it contained more Hu allies than in previous versions, which had similarly been stacked by former president Jiang Zemin before he stood down.
Aside from trying to implement his economic reforms, Hu had spent much of the past five years battling the lingering influence of Jiang, who is still believed to be playing a strong role behind the scenes.
"Hu Jintao still faces difficulties, but by and large he has to be happy with his position," Willy Lam, a veteran China watcher from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told AFP.
The four new faces in the Standing Committee include current Shanghai party chief Xi Jinping, who has enjoyed a meteoric rise after only taking over the leadership of China's financial hub in March.
Liaoning provincial chief Li Keqiang, known as an ally of Hu, was also thrust into the Standing Committee.
Xi and Li, who were not even members of the party's Politburo until now, appeared to become the front-runners to succeed Hu following the party's next Congress in five years.
No information was immediately available about the responsibilities that Xi and Li would assume.
"Xi Jinping, 54, and Li Keqiang, 52, are two relatively young comrades," Hu said at the briefing, giving away no other details.
But given the order in which they appeared before the press-normally a gauge of importance-it appeared Xi was slightly ahead of Li in the pecking order.
The other new faces on the Standing Committee are He Guoqiang, head of the organisation department of the party's powerful central committee for the past five years, and Zhou Yongkang, the minister of public security.
With the new appointments to the Standing Committee, the average age of its members is 62, the same as when the previous Standing Committee was appointed five years ago.