Page 2 of
2 SUN
WUKONG Grooming
China's future leaders By Wu
Zhong, China Editor
in charge of
the organization and personnel affairs for the
17th Party Congress. It would be hard to believe
that he got the job without Hu's consent.
Some say Xi was chosen because he has been
known for always toeing the power center's line.
For instance, when the central government launched
its macroeconomic-control policy two years ago,
Chen Liangyu took a defiant attitude. But Xi, as
Zhenjiang
party
chief, warned his subordinates, "To comply with
the macro-control policy in appearance but oppose
it in heart is an unhealthy trend and evil
practice."
In any case, the new
appointment ensures that Xi becomes a member of
the new Politburo in the 17th Party Congress,
filling the vacancy left by the disgraced Chen.
But as the newly appointed Shanghai party
secretary, Xi is unlikely to be promoted to the
Politburo Standing Committee in the autumn,
because membership is a full-time post based in
Beijing that normally cannot be concurrently taken
by a regional party chief. However, given his
youth, Xi is likely to move further up in the
party hierarchy in the 18th Party Congress in
2012.
Zhang Gaoli, 61, was appointed party
secretary of Tianjin, replacing Zhang Lichang. As
such, Zhang Gaoli is likely to replace Zhang
Lichang as a Politburo member in the 17th Party
Congress. However, because of his age, this will
perhaps be the zenith of his political career.
Zhang Lichang, 68, was removed to take
another post in Beijing. Before his new
appointment, Zhang Gaoli was party secretary of
Shandong province. Before he was promoted to the
Shandong post in 2001, Zhang Gaoli worked in
Shenzhen as mayor and party chief for four years
and was reputed as a clean, open-minded and
pragmatic leader.
It is well known that
Zhang Lichang could never get along with Tianjin
Mayor Dai Xianglong, the former governor of the
People's Bank of China, which somehow held back
the city's development. The power center eyes
development of Tianjin's Bohai New Area as a new
pivot, like Shenzhen in the 1980s and Shanghai's
Pudong in the 1990s, to lead the country's
economic development. It is obvious that Beijing
hopes with his experience in Shenzhen, Zhang Gaoli
could cooperate with Dai to accomplish the task.
Li Jianguo, 61, was appointed party
secretary of Shandong province, replacing Zhang
Gaoli. Given his age, Li Jianguo will likely
retire after he finishes his term in Shandong.
Li, a Shandong native, started his
political career in Tianjin, where he had worked
for more than two decades, with his last post as
Tianjin's deputy party secretary, until 1997, when
he was removed to become party chief of Shaanxi
province. As such, he is regarded as a protege of
Li Ruihuan, who retired as the fourth-ranked party
leader in late 2002. Tianjin was Li Ruihuan's
power base, where he worked as mayor and party
chief in 1980s.
Zhao Hongzhu, 60, was
named party secretary of Zhejiang province. He
too, given his age, may have to retire after
completing the five-year term in this office. In
this reshuffle, Zhao is the only official working
at the CCP power center to be appointed to head a
province.
Zhao started his political
career as a People's Liberation Army officer, and
then he worked at various local party posts in
Inner Mongolia. In 1997 he was promoted as deputy
secretary general of the Central Commission for
Disciplinary Inspection, the party's top
anti-graft watchdog. In 2000 he was appointed a
deputy head of the party's Central Organization
Department, where he had stayed until this new
appointment.
Zeng Qinghong was the head of
the Central Organization Department from 1999 to
2002. And even after 2002, one of Zeng's
portfolios as a member of the Politburo Standing
Committee was to oversee the Central Organization
Department. Because of this, Zhao is also said to
be a protege of Zeng.
Zhejiang and
Shandong are two of the most economically
important provinces in China. Hence Li Jianguo and
Zhao Hongzhu will be often in the limelight in the
next years.
Zhao Leji, 50, was appointed
party secretary of Shaanxi province. He started
his political career in Qinghai province. In 2000,
he was named to head Qinghai province, becoming
the youngest provincial governor in China. Five
years later, he became Qinghai party secretary,
again the youngest provincial party chief in the
country. Youth is Zhao Leji's greatest advantage.
If nothing goes wrong, he could be one of the
future leaders of China.
Qiang Wei, 54,
replaced Zho Leji as party secretary of Qinghai.
After brief service in the military, Qiang began
to work in a chemical factory in Beijing. In 1984
he became party secretary of the factory and
started his political career. From 1987-90 he was
the secretary of the CYL's Beijing municipal
committee. In this sense, Qiang Wei could be said
to come from the CYL faction, though he might not
be so close to Hu Jintao, who was the secretary of
the CYL's central committee from 1982-85. Before
his new appointment, Qiang was deputy party chief
of Beijing overseeing law enforcement.
Qinghai is a an economic backwater.
However, it is a known practice of the CCP to send
promising cadres to remote regions to demonstrate
their capabilities in working through hardships
and difficulties. Both Hu Jintao and Premier Wen
Jiabao started their careers in Gansu, another
poor province in northwestern China. Hu himself
was even once sent to work in Guizhou province and
Tibet. Therefore, given his age, Qiang could also
have a bright future.
At present, as
provincial party chiefs, Li Jianguo, Zhao Hongzhu,
Zhao Leji and Qing Wei will surely be elected as
members of the new Central Committee in the 17th
Party Congress, though they are unlikely to become
Politburo members like Xi Jinping and Zhang Gaoli.
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