Leadership Changes 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China

1 leadership changes

1.1 politburo standing committee
1.2 politburo
1.3 secretariat
1.4 central military commission
1.5 ministerial positions

leadership changes

the politburo standing committee

it speculated xi jinping , li keqiang succeed hu jintao , wen jiabao top politburo standing committee members november 2012, , take on presidency , premiership in march 2013 @ national people s congress. since 2002, standing committee members had retired if 68 or older @ time of party congress. result of largely unspoken convention, expected other members of outgoing standing committee have retire @ 18th congress. 70% of members of central military commission , executive committee of state council turn on in 2012; in addition, every member of 17th central committee born before 1945 relinquished central committee membership @ congress. congress marked significant leadership transition in decades.

chinese politics prior 18th national congress trended towards collective leadership , paramount leader had share power circle of senior leaders in politburo standing committee, particularly premier. paramount leader not expected have same amount of power accorded during era of mao , deng. practice of governing through consensus within politburo standing committee became norm following 16th party congress in 2002. during congress, size of standing committee increased 7 members nine, luo gan , li changchun being added handle law enforcement , propaganda portfolios, respectively. however, these 2 factors led inefficiencies in decision-making process. in order improve efficacy of standing committee, 18th party congress expected end in return smaller, seven-member committee. propaganda , public security portfolios expected downgraded level of politburo.

apart largely pre-ordained selection of xi , li top 2 positions, intense speculation mounted on else might join standing committee. 2 unexpected events upset balanced political equilibrium in lead congress. wang lijun incident in 2012 no longer made former chongqing party chief bo xilai viable candidate psc, , ferrari crash of son of ling jihua, top aide of hu jintao, said have reduced hu s bargaining power in leadership selection process. initial speculation placed yu zhengsheng, zhang dejiang, li yuanchao, wang qishan, , wang yang on new standing committee. however, li yuanchao , wang yang, largely seen belonging liberal wing of party, not selected. instead, liu yunshan , zhang gaoli joined standing committee. liu, former propaganda department head, took on both head of party s central secretariat , top official in charge of propaganda, , seen conservative member in new psc. zhang, bookish party bureaucrat known presiding on economic growth in numerous regions, ostensibly selected technocratic competence. should noted apart xi jinping , li keqiang, other members of new standing committee born in late 1940s , therefore need retire @ 19th party congress if informally mandated retirement rules still holds in 2017. li yuanchao (born 1950) , wang yang (born 1955) ostensibly still join 19th standing committee @ time.

the new standing committee noted diverse regional experience of members. apart liu yunshan, every member of new psc had experience serving in provincial-level positions prior ascending apex of political power; of them @ 1 point had been provincial party chief. xi served in fujian, zhejiang , shanghai, li keqiang served in henan , liaoning, zhang dejiang served in jilin, zhejiang, guangdong, , chongqing, yu zhengsheng served in hubei , shanghai, wang qishan served in guangdong, hainan, , beijing, , zhang gaoli served in guangdong, shandong , tianjin.

the 18th politburo standing committee formed on 15 november 2012, newly formed politburo standing committee consisted of (in order ranking) xi jinping, li keqiang, 17th central committee, in addition newcomers:

3. zhang dejiang (3rd-ranked vice premier , party chief of chongqing)
4. yu zhengsheng (party chief of shanghai)
5. liu yunshan (head of cpc propaganda department , elected top-ranked secretary of central secretariat of cpc)
6. wang qishan (4th-ranked vice premier , elected secretary of central commission discipline inspection)
7. zhang gaoli (party chief of tianjin)













































the politburo

the 18th politburo named @ congress. within 17th politburo, eleven members born after 1945. of these, 7 named standing committee (see above); , remaining three, liu yandong, li yuanchao, , wang yang, retained politburo seats. bo xilai suspended politburo prior congress. 14 members of 17th politburo born prior 1945 relinquished politburo membership due having reached mandatory retirement age of 68 @ time of congress. conversely, meant members of 17th politburo born after 1945 (except bo xilai) maintained politburo membership.

since majority of members of 17th politburo retired @ congress, fifteen seats on 18th politburo filled newcomers. notable additions politburo included wang huning, became first head of party s central policy research office hold seat on politburo; li zhanshu, former guizhou party chief took on head of party s general office; meng jianzhu, former minister of public security took on portfolio of central legal , political affairs commission; , hu chunhua , sun zhengcai, 2 officials born after 1960 took on major regional party leadership posts in guangdong , chongqing, respectively, following congress.

by convention, members listed in stroke order of surnames.

ma kai (born 1947), vice premier
wang huning (born 1955), director of policy research office of cpc central committee
liu yandong (born 1945), vice premier
liu qibao (born 1953), secretary of cpc central secretariat, head of cpc propaganda department
xu qiliang (born 1950), vice chairman of central military commission
sun chunlan (born 1950), party chief of tianjin (until 2014); head of cpc united front work department
sun zhengcai (born 1963), party chief of chongqing (until 2017; expelled)
li jianguo (born 1946), vice-chairman , secretary-general of national people s congress
li yuanchao (born 1950), vice president of people s republic of china
wang yang (born 1955), vice premier
zhang chunxian (born 1953), party chief of xinjiang (until 2016); deputy leader, leading group party building
fan changlong (born 1947), vice chairman of central military commission
meng jianzhu (born 1947), head of central politics , law commission of communist party of china
zhao leji (born 1957), secretary of cpc central secretariat, head of cpc organization department
hu chunhua (born 1963), party chief of guangdong
li zhanshu (born 1950), secretary of cpc central secretariat, chief of general office of communist party of china
guo jinlong (born 1947), party chief of beijing (until 2017); vice chairman, central guidance commission on building spiritual civilization
han zheng (born 1954), party chief of shanghai


leaving politburo


bo xilai expelled politburo before 18th national congress due wang lijun incident , other violations.
wang gang, vice chairman of cppcc national committee
wang lequan, deputy secretary of political , legislative affairs committee
wang zhaoguo, vice chairman of national people s congress, chair of all-china federation of trade unions
hui liangyu, 2nd ranked vice premier
liu qi, party chief of beijing, head of beijing olympics organizing committee
li changchun, chairman of central guidance commission building spiritual civilization
wu bangguo, chairman of standing committee of national people s congress
zhou yongkang, secretary of political , legislative affairs committee
hu jintao, cpc general secretary, prc president, chairman of central military commission
he guoqiang, secretary of central commission discipline inspection
jia qinglin, chairman of national committee of chinese people s political consultative conference
xu caihou, vice-chairman of central military commission
guo boxiong, vice-chairman of central military commission
wen jiabao, premier of state council

the secretariat

the secretariat, overseeing party affairs , acting day-to-day executive arm of central committee, led psc member liu yunshan, held post of president of central party school. liu qibao, zhao leji, , li zhanshu earned seats on secretariat, anticipated heads of propaganda, organization, , general office. zhao hongzhu succeeded yong s place on secretariat top-ranked deputy secretary of central commission discipline inspection. departing previous composition of body, du qinglin, outgoing united front department chief, held no other post @ time (he later elected ceremonial vice-chair of cppcc in march 2013), elevated secretariat. similarly, yang jing, ethnic mongol , former chairman of inner mongolia, go on named secretary-general of state council, broke convention , earned seat on secretariat, signalling top government organ, state council, work in closer coordination party.

central military commission

chairman - xi jinping (also general secretary of cpc)
vice chairman - general fan changlong, former commander of jinan military region
vice chairman - general xu qiliang, former commander of pla air force


members


general chang wanquan, minister of national defense
general zhang youxia, director of pla general armaments department
general fang fenghui, director of pla general staff department
general zhang yang, director of pla general political department
general zhao keshi, director of pla general logistics department
general ma xiaotian, commander of pla air force
general wei fenghe, commander of second artillery corps
admiral wu shengli, commander of pla navy

ministerial positions

state council positions confirmed @ 12th national people s congress in march 2013 during 1st plenary session.

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