Hu expected to shake up inner circle of leadership
Monday, 10 September 2007
Richard McGregor
A few weeks before the five-yearly Communist party congress, Beijing is awash with speculation on the new leadership group that will emerge from the meeting in mid-October to take charge of the country until 2012.
The nine-member leadership inner circle is not revealed until the end of the congress, when the new line-up, in order of seniority, is unveiled with dark, theatrical pomp on a stage in the Great Hall of the People.
But President Hu Jintao is showing every sign he is determined to push through a substantial clean-out of the leadership group, still known according to its Leninist roots as the Standing Committee of the Politburo.
Recently, Mr Hu secured the resignations of five ministers. At least three more were replaced earlier this year, two by non-Communist party members, for the first time since the 1950s.
Although some of the ministers had reached, or were near, the mandatory retirement age of 65, they would normally have been retired during the annual session of the National People's Congress. While the congress settles party positions, the NPC is a government forum, in which policies are announced and the budget and legislation are passed.
"The way that so many ministers have been changed is not in line with normal procedure," said a researcher at a Chinese think-tank.
One minister left with a whiff of scandal. Jin Renqing, the finance minister, was tainted by sex and corruption allegations which are alleged to have felled a prominent mayor and the head of a big oil company.
With Mr Hu building a fresh government team for his second five-year term, it seems likely he will also want substantial changes in the party leadership group.
His growing power is already evident in a number of appointments, notably the revival of Meng Xuenong, removed as Beijing mayor for his handling of the Sars disease crisis in 2003. He has been appointed a deputy party secretary of the coal-rich Shanxi province and is expected eventually to take over as governor.
Yu Youjun, the previous governor, a rising star, appears to have survived the uproar over the discovery of widespread slave labour in the province earlier this year and is expected to return to Beijing as a minister.
Of the nine positions of the standing committee, one is vacant because of a death; and three others, and possibly more, will be cleared through likely retirements. Six out of the nine members of the committee have close ties to Mr Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, and his so-called "Shanghai Gang".
Although Chinese politics cannot be divided crudely into two warring camps, pitting Mr Hu's loyalists against the Shanghai clique, the president will want to have as many of his people in the line-up as possible.
With Wen Jiabao, the premier, expected to keep his job, most speculation is focused on Zeng Qinghong, a vice-president and a former ally of Mr Jiang. Mr Zeng has worked closely with the president and played a big role in sensitive policy areas like Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Born in 1939, Mr Zeng is in his late 60s and could be vulnerable to pressure from Mr Hu to retire.
The other, more likely, alternative is for him to be promoted one position higher in the hierarchy, to take over as head of a political consultative body in place of Jia Qinglin.
................................
Under syndication
arrangement with FE
A few weeks before the five-yearly Communist party congress, Beijing is awash with speculation on the new leadership group that will emerge from the meeting in mid-October to take charge of the country until 2012.
The nine-member leadership inner circle is not revealed until the end of the congress, when the new line-up, in order of seniority, is unveiled with dark, theatrical pomp on a stage in the Great Hall of the People.
But President Hu Jintao is showing every sign he is determined to push through a substantial clean-out of the leadership group, still known according to its Leninist roots as the Standing Committee of the Politburo.
Recently, Mr Hu secured the resignations of five ministers. At least three more were replaced earlier this year, two by non-Communist party members, for the first time since the 1950s.
Although some of the ministers had reached, or were near, the mandatory retirement age of 65, they would normally have been retired during the annual session of the National People's Congress. While the congress settles party positions, the NPC is a government forum, in which policies are announced and the budget and legislation are passed.
"The way that so many ministers have been changed is not in line with normal procedure," said a researcher at a Chinese think-tank.
One minister left with a whiff of scandal. Jin Renqing, the finance minister, was tainted by sex and corruption allegations which are alleged to have felled a prominent mayor and the head of a big oil company.
With Mr Hu building a fresh government team for his second five-year term, it seems likely he will also want substantial changes in the party leadership group.
His growing power is already evident in a number of appointments, notably the revival of Meng Xuenong, removed as Beijing mayor for his handling of the Sars disease crisis in 2003. He has been appointed a deputy party secretary of the coal-rich Shanxi province and is expected eventually to take over as governor.
Yu Youjun, the previous governor, a rising star, appears to have survived the uproar over the discovery of widespread slave labour in the province earlier this year and is expected to return to Beijing as a minister.
Of the nine positions of the standing committee, one is vacant because of a death; and three others, and possibly more, will be cleared through likely retirements. Six out of the nine members of the committee have close ties to Mr Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, and his so-called "Shanghai Gang".
Although Chinese politics cannot be divided crudely into two warring camps, pitting Mr Hu's loyalists against the Shanghai clique, the president will want to have as many of his people in the line-up as possible.
With Wen Jiabao, the premier, expected to keep his job, most speculation is focused on Zeng Qinghong, a vice-president and a former ally of Mr Jiang. Mr Zeng has worked closely with the president and played a big role in sensitive policy areas like Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Born in 1939, Mr Zeng is in his late 60s and could be vulnerable to pressure from Mr Hu to retire.
The other, more likely, alternative is for him to be promoted one position higher in the hierarchy, to take over as head of a political consultative body in place of Jia Qinglin.
................................
Under syndication
arrangement with FE