MCLC: new leadership

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: new leadership
***********************************************************

Source: NYT (11/14/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/world/asia/communists-conclude-party-cong
ress-in-china.html

BEIJING — Completing only its second orderly hand-over of power in more
than six decades of rule, the Chinese Communist Party on Thursday unveiled
a new leadership slate headed by Xi Jinping, the son of a revered
revolutionary leader and economic reformer, who will face the task of
guiding China to a more sustainable model of growth and managing the
country’s rise as a global power.

For this nation of 1.3 billion, the transition culminates a tumultuous
period plagued by scandals and intense political rivalry that presented
the party with some of its greatest challenges since the student uprising
of 1989. Minutes before noon on Thursday, after a confirmation vote by the
party’s new Central Committee, Mr. Xi, 59, strode onto a red-carpeted
stage at the Great Hall of the People accompanied by six other party
officials who will form the new Politburo Standing Committee, the elite
group that makes crucial decisions on the economy, foreign policy and
other major issues. Before their appearance, the new lineup was announced
by Xinhua, the state news agency.

“We have every reason to be proud — proud, but not complacent,” said Mr.
Xi, looking relaxed in a dark suit and a wine-red tie. “Inside the party,
there are many problems that need be addressed, especially the problems
among party members and officials of corruption and taking bribes, being
out of touch with the people, undue emphasis on formalities and
bureaucracy, and other issues.” He added, “To forge iron, one must be
strong.”

The ascension of Mr. Xi and other members of the “red nobility” to the top
posts means that the so-called princelings have come into their own as a
prominent political force. Because of their parentage, they believe
themselves to be the heirs of the revolution that succeeded in 1949,
endowed with the mandate of authority that that status confers.

“I think the emphasis is on continuity over change this time around,” said
Bo Zhiyue, a scholar of Chinese politics at the National University of
Singapore.

Mr. Xi is facing a growing chorus of calls from Chinese elites to support
greater openness in China’s economic and political systems, which critics
say have stagnated in the last decade under the departing party chief, Hu
Jintao, despite the country’s emergence as the world’s second-largest
economy and a growing regional power.

Mr. Hu, 69, also turned over the post of civilian chairman of the military
on Thursday to Mr. Xi, which made this transition the first time since the
promotion of the ill-fated Hua Guofeng in 1976 that a Chinese leader had
taken office as head of the party and the military at the same time. That
gives Mr. Xi a stronger base from which to consolidate his power, even as
he grapples with the continuing influence of party elders.

The unveiling came the day after the weeklong 18th Party Congress ended as
Mr. Hu made his final appearance as party chief at a closing ceremony and
seven standing committee members stepped down.

Mr. Xi is known for shunning the spotlight and being a skilled consensus
builder. He spent his childhood in the leadership compounds of Beijing,
but was forced to toil in a village of cave homes in Shaanxi Province for
seven years during the Cultural Revolution, when his father was purged.

His first job was as an aide to a top general in Beijing. He then rose
through the party ranks in the provinces, including Fujian and Zhejiang,
two coastal regions known for private entrepreneurship and exchanges with
Taiwan. Mr. Xi’s jobs and family background have allowed him to build
personal ties to some military leaders. He is married to a celebrity
singer, Peng Liyuan, and they have a daughter attending Harvard under a
pseudonym.

Mr. Hu’s abdication of the military chairmanship sets an important
institutional precedent for future successions and may put his legacy in a
more favorable light. In Chinese politics, retired leaders try to maximize
their influence well into old age, either by clinging to titles or by
making their opinions known on important decisions.

Jiang Zemin, Mr. Hu’s predecessor as party chief and president, did both:
he held on to the military post for two years after giving up his party
title in 2002, which led to heightened friction within the party. And in
recent months, he has worked to get his protégés installed on the standing
committee, which is usually assembled through horse trading by party
elders and leaders.



The committee was trimmed to seven members from nine. One reason for that
change is that some party leaders, including Mr. Xi, believe that an
overrepresentation of interests on the committee has led to gridlock in
decision making. The smaller committee has also resulted in a downgrading
of the party post that controls the security apparatus, which some
officials asserted had grown too powerful.

The new standing committee has allies of Mr. Jiang in five of seven seats,
reflecting his considerable power despite being hit by serious illness. Li
Keqiang, a protégé of Mr. Hu’s, is expected to get the state title of
prime minister next spring, when Mr. Xi becomes president. Mr. Li and Mr.
Xi were the only members on the departing standing committee who are
remaining part of the group.

The other officials on the new committee in order of ranking and their
expected portfolios are Zhang Dejiang, head of the National People’s
Congress; Yu Zhengsheng, who will run a similar advisory body; Liu
Yunshan, vice president and overseer of propaganda; Wang Qishan, the head
of an anticorruption agency; and Zhang Gaoli, the executive vice premier,
who helps manage the economy.

One princeling said earlier to be a contender for the committee, Bo Xilai,
was felled last spring by a scandal after his wife was accused of killing
a British businessman.

The lineup is stocked with conservatives and older officials. An unspoken
age limit for party leaders means that several of them will retire at the
next party congress, in 2017, at which point Mr. Xi might have an opening
to get other allies appointed.
Xinhua announced that Mr. Wang is the new head of the party’s Central
Commission for Discipline Inspection, a group charged with investigating
corruption and other infractions.

For months, there was talk that Mr. Wang would get an economic portfolio,
but he appears to have been pushed aside for that job, which some analysts
have said bodes ill for further economic liberalization. But Mr. Wang’s
network in the finance industry, where he has considerable experience,
could be a powerful tool in corruption investigations.

Mr. Wang joins Mr. Xi as one of three or four princelings on the projected
committee. The princelings are not a coherent political faction, and their
ranks are rife with personal and ideological rivalries. Their family
connections may mean a greater confidence with wielding power and pressing
for bolder changes. At the same time, that class has grown wealthy off
China’s political economy, in which officials and state-owned enterprises
work together to reap benefits, often at the expense of private
entrepreneurship. Even those princelings who support liberalizing the
economy or the political system still believe in the primacy of the party,
and their push for various reforms is seen as an effort to ensure the
party’s survival.

“These people around Xi Jinping who advise him and with whom he’s close,
they do want reform, but on the condition that they maintain the rule of
the Communist Party,” said Zhang Lifan, a historian and son of a former
minister. “They consider the Communist Party and its rule a heritage from
their fathers. So they’re not willing to risk losing it. They have
limitations on how far they want reform to go.”

Mr. Xi will have to spend his first years building a power base, limiting
the opportunity to make major policy moves. He might, however, support a
further opening of the economy in his first five-year term, some political
insiders said. If he or other leaders want to experiment with the
political system, they would do that in his second term, even though true
economic changes need political transformations as well.

Mr. Xi and the incoming leaders will also have to contend with the
continuing influence of party elders, including Mr. Hu and Mr. Jiang. With
the end of the 18th Party Congress on Wednesday, there are now about 20
retired standing committee members, and many of them want a say in major
decisions.

But Robert Lawrence Kuhn, an American businessman who wrote an authorized
biography of Jiang Zemin and remains close to senior officials, predicted
Mr. Xi would surprise those expecting him to adhere to the status quo. The
pressures on China to create a more sustainable economic system — one that
relies less on investment in large projects and exports and more on
domestic consumption and private business — will compel him to act soon.
“The risks of not reforming are now higher than the risks of reforming,”
Mr. Kuhn said.