Xi also unveiled the other six members of the Standing Committee, China’s top ruling body — stacked with staunch allies, limiting potential resistance.
Xi Jinping has entered a third term surrounded by loyalists. Here are the key moments from today
From CNN's Simone McCarthy, Nectar Gan, Steven Jiang, Yong Xiong and Wayne Chang
New members of the Politburo Standing Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday.
(Andy Wong/AP)
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has formally stepped into his norm-breaking third term ruling China with an iron grip on power, as he revealed a new leadership team stacked with loyal allies.
Here’s what you need to know:
The new A-team: Xi announced six men — Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi — to stand alongside him as members of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s top ruling body. They are all staunch Xi loyalists — clearing the path for him to rule with minimal internal discord or opposition.
All male Politburo lineup: Xi also revealed the new 24-member Politburo, which for the first time in at least 25 years includes no women – highlighting the stark lack of female representation in the Communist Party’s leadership.
Officials removed: Two names raised eyebrows for their conspicuous absence. Hu Chunhua, one of China’s vice premiers, was once widely viewed as a candidate for top leadership — but the 59-year-old is now no longer listed as a Politburo member. Meanwhile, former Xinjiang party secretary Chen Quanguo is also missing from the Central Committee roster.
No clear successors: Standing Committee lineups before the Xi era have included younger members as potential successors for the top leader. But with the youngest member at 60 years old this time, there’s no stand-out name in the mix – a potential sign Xi is not planning to step down anytime soon.
Fallout over Hu Jintao: The 79-year-old former leader was unexpectedly led out of the room during yesterday’s closing ceremony of the Party Congress, seeming initially reluctant to leave. State-run news agency Xinhua later said on its English-language Twitter — which is blocked in China — that Hu had been removed for “health” reasons, though many experts have voiced doubt. The incident has so far not been reported in state-run Chinese-language media or discussed on Chinese social media, where such conversation is highly restricted.
Link Copied!
Russia's Vladimir Putin congratulates Xi on his third term
From CNN’s Duarte Mendonça in London
Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on June 8, 2018.
( Greg Baker/Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his congratulations to Xi Jinping on Sunday after the Chinese leader was confirmed for a norm-breaking third term.
The Kremlin released a statement praising the “comprehensive partnership” between Russia and China.
China and Russia have a long-standing relationship, and have forged even closer ties in recent years, with Xi and Putin proclaiming last year that their friendship had “no limits.”
China has refused to publicly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, instead blaming the conflict on NATO and the United States.
Link Copied!
New leadership lineup comes after Hu Jintao, former top leader and Xi's predecessor, was led out of room
Hu Jintao is assisted at his seat during the closing ceremony of the 20th Party Congress in Beijing on October 22.
(Tingshu Wang/Reuters)
Xi Jinping unveiled his top leadership team today, filling it with close allies from his inner circle — and sidelining those outside his political orbit, including premier Li Keqiang.
But a different figure took the spotlight yesterday, at the end of the 20th Party Congress — former top leader Hu Jintao, Xi’s predecessor, who was unexpectedly led out of the room during the closing ceremony.
Hu, 79, was seated directly next to Xi on stage when he was approached by two men. They spoke briefly, with Hu appearing initially reluctant. Hu eventually stood, escorted by the two men from his seat, with one holding his arm.
On his way out, Hu was seen to gesture to Xi and say something to the leader. He then patted Premier Li — an ally and former protege of Hu — on his shoulder. Both Xi and Li appear to have nodded; it was not clear if Xi spoke.
The circumstances around his departure were not immediately clear, and CNN was censored on air in China when reporting on Hu’s exit.
The dramatic moment has not been reported in state-run Chinese-language media or discussed on Chinese social media, where such conversation is highly-restricted — but it set off a firestorm of speculation overseas, with some analysts suggesting it could be a power play on Xi’s part.
Hu held the role of China’s top leader from 2003 to 2013, presiding over a comparatively more economically open and globally integrated era. Hu oversaw China’s landmark 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, significant infrastructure spending and a decade of double-digit economic growth.
Hu was never as powerful as Xi is now — owing in part to the balancing influence of multiple party factions and party elders, including his predecessor Jiang Zemin. Hu was associated with a faction connected to the Communist Youth League, a grouping whose influence has diminished considerably during Xi’s rule.
State media breaks silence: On Saturday night, China’s state-run news agency Xinhua wrote on its English-language Twitter account that Hu “insisted on attending the closing session of the Party’s 20th National Congress, despite the fact that he has been taking time to recuperate recently.”
“When he was not feeling well during the session, his staff, for his health, accompanied him to a room next to the meeting venue for a rest. Now, he is much better,” Xinhua wrote.
Twitter is banned in China. To date, Xinhua has not posted the statement on their website or Chinese-language social media.
And many experts remain doubtful. Shih pointed out after Hu cast his vote for the new lineup of the Central Committee, he had sat down “in a pretty stable manner” — whereas if he’d been feeling ill, staff could have “whisked him away and given him medical care” right after the vote.
Link Copied!
Xi could potentially rule for life — but this also brings greater uncertainty as he ages, experts say
Xi Jinping meets the media following the 20th Party Congress in Beijing on Sunday.
(Tingshu Wang/Reuters)
Today’s unveiling of the Politburo and its smaller Standing Committee — two of the Communist Party’s major leadership bodies — sends a clear message about who’s ultimately in charge, experts say.
He pointed to several newly-appointed figures, who are close allies of Xi Jinping despite not having much experience working in the central government.
“These are people who know (Xi) very well, whom he trusts a great deal, and they are chosen for these top-level positions because of that,” Shih said. “So their job performance, regardless of what the international media think of it, regardless of even what a lot of Chinese people think of, is really is quite secondary here.”
Xi in power, again: Xi formally stepped into his third term in power, breaking with precedent as his grip on power tightens.
“By breaking with the two-term norm … I think Xi Jinping is setting himself up for a lifetime tenure,” said Shih.
He added that though this paves the way for Xi in office in the coming years, it could bring instability later as the 69-year-old leader ages. “We all age, we all get old — the sense of uncertainty is going to build,” Shih said. Each time Xi disappears from public view for more than a week or two, “there are going to be all kinds of rumors,” as well as market instability, he added.
Xi says "China's door to the world will only get wider," as the country withdraws further into isolation
New members of the Politburo Standing Committee arrive at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday.
(Ng Han Guan/AP)
During Xi Jinping’s speech at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing today, he attempted to paint a picture of an open China willing to collaborate with the world — in stark contrast to the country’s growing isolation in recent years.
“China cannot develop in isolation from the world, and the world also needs China for its development,” Xi said, adding that China had rapidly developed its economy and achieved “social stability” due to decades of efforts in “reform and opening up.”
Covid isolation: But whether that pledge will be carried out in reality remains to be seen, with China having closed to the world throughout the pandemic.
China shut its borders in early 2020 to keep out the virus, and they remain largely shut today even as much of the world adapts to live with Covid. Reflecting the country’s inward turn, Xi himself didn’t leave the mainland for almost 900 days — until he paid a visit to Hong Kong, a Chinese special administrative region.
And with Xi defending zero-Covid during the 20th Party Congress last Sunday, saying it had “protected people’s lives,” it seems the policy is here to stay.
Insular mentality: But this isolation is also reflected in parts of the country’s national psyche — a broader shift that has been years in the making.
Since taking office in late 2012, Xi has repeatedly warned against the “infiltration” of Western values such as democracy, press freedom and judicial independence. He has clamped down on foreign NGOs, churches, as well as Western textbooks — all seen as vehicles for undue foreign influence.
That has fueled a growing strand of narrow-minded nationalism, which casts suspicion on any foreign ties and views feminism, the LGBTQ movement, and even environmentalism as stooges of Western influence designed to undermine China.
Analysis: China is facing a host of challenges — including the zero-Covid trap
From CNN's Selina Wang
A Evergrande Group Royal Peak residential development, photographed in Beijing on July 29.
(Stringer/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
In recent history, no country has modernized as rapidly as China. The Communist Party claims its leadership helped lift hundreds of millions out of poverty, turning backwater villages into stunning megacities.
But that growth miracle has slowed. And many longstanding challenges in China’s economy have only been exacerbated by Xi Jinping’s policies.
Xi has made it his mission to strengthen the party and its control over business and society. He unleashed a crackdown on the once-vibrant private sector that’s led to mass layoffs. Beijing claims the tougher regulations restrict overly powerful corporations and protect consumers, but the measures have suffocated private businesses, sending chills through the economy and sparking fears about future innovation.
Collapsing housing sector: Beijing started clamping down on easy credit for property firms in 2020, which led to cash crunches and defaults for many developers, including giant conglomerate Evergrande. Housing projects have stalled and desperate homebuyers across the country are refusing to pay mortgages on unfinished homes. Disruptions in the property sector have an outsized impact on China’s broader economy, as it accounts for as much as 30% of the country’s GDP.
The toll of zero-Covid: But during Xi’s leadership, nothing has rocked China’s economy and society as much as zero-Covid. In year three of the pandemic, China has clung to the harsh policy, which relies on mass testing, extensive quarantines and snap lockdowns to stamp out infections at all costs, even as the rest of the world has learned to live with the virus.
The country continues to lock down entire cities over a handful of infections, while sending all positive cases and close contacts to government quarantine facilities. Lining up for Covid tests and scanning a tracking health code to enter any public space have become normalized.
Beijing argues the policy has prevented China from spiraling into a health care disaster like the rest of the world — but zero-Covid is wielded at enormous and growing costs.
Hu Chunhua, once tapped to be a potential top leader, has been removed from the Politburo
Hu Chunhua at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March, 2021.
(Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)
China’s new leadership bodies — the 205-member Central Committee, 24-member Politburo, and 7-member Standing Committee — have now all been revealed, with Xi Jinping at the helm surrounded by staunch loyalists.
A few promotions included high-ranking officials that observers had speculated were top contenders ahead of the unveiling. But there are also some shock absences — names that have conspicuously disappeared from the roster as Xi gathered his allies close and sidelined others.
Hu Chunhua, one of China’s vice premiers, was once widely viewed as a candidate for top leadership — but the 59-year-old is now no longer listed as a Politburo member.
He was a protege of former Chinese leader Hu Jintao, Xi’s predecessor, who was unexpectedly led out of the room on Saturday at the closing ceremony of the 20th Party Congress.
Afterward, state-run news agency Xinhua said on its English-language Twitter — which is blocked in China — that Hu Jintao had been removed for “health” reasons. The incident has not been reported in state-run Chinese-language media or discussed on Chinese social media, where such conversation is highly restricted.
Hu Chunhua is not among Xi’s close circle. Despite widespread speculation about his potential ascension in 2017, he was denied a promotion into the Politburo Standing Committee, stalling his rise — and now, he’s out of the wider Politburo as well.
Chen Quanguo, the former party secretary of China’s far western Xinjiang region, was also missing from the Central Committee roster.
He is among those sanctioned by the US Trump administration for their alleged involvement in human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, where Uyghur Muslims and other minority groups have been detained and tortured.
In a statement at the time, then-State Secretary Mike Pompeo said that Chen “oversaw extensive abuses in Tibetan areas, using many of the same horrific practices and policies CCP officials currently employ in Xinjiang.”
Link Copied!
Xi Jinping wants China to "win local wars." Russia’s failures in Ukraine show that’s not so easy
Analysis from CNN's Brad Lendon
It has taken just a handful of years for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to make good on his promise of transforming the People’s Liberation Army.
In 2015, three years after he assumed leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi undertook a sweeping project to turn the PLA into a “world-class fighting force” that would be a peer to the US military.
The deadline he set for that milestone was 2049, yet just seven years on and he is already far along the path to realizing his dream.
Massive military: China now boasts the world’s largest navy, with some of the newest and most powerful warships afloat; an air force with stealth fighter jets and a stealth bomber expected soon; and a rocket force bristling with new missiles that give it a reach unmatched in Asia.
But as Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine shows, even the largest, most formidable seeming militaries have Achilles heels that can be exploited by smaller, savvier forces.
What should be even more worrying for Xi, as he begins a third term as both party leader and supreme commander of the Chinese military following this week’s 20th Party Congres, is that many analysts see parallels between the problems dogging Moscow in Ukraine and the potential weak spots that remain in the PLA, writes CNN’s Brad Lendon.
Where is China’s economy heading under Xi’s potential next decade in power?
From CNN's Laura He
In the Party Congress report released earlier this week, Xi Jinping reiterated his goal to make China a “medium developed country” by 2035. To achieve this, the country’s real GDP growth needs to average around 4.7% a year from 2021 to 2035, according to analysts at UBS.
But that could be “quite challenging,” they noted, adding they expect China’s potential growth to average between 4% to 4.5% a year this decade, and fall lower after 2030.
The reason for this pessimism: China’s economy faces significant challenges, including a property downturn, an aging population, the ongoing impact of xi’s own stringent Covid restrictions and worsening US-China relations.
Xi is also big on state intervention in key industries, which could hamper productivity, analysts fear.
“An implicit assumption is that the country is ready to return to increased state ownership and control, a strategy that is likely to dampen productivity, creativity, and innovation in the medium- and long-term,” she said.
Link Copied!
Anti-Xi protest spreads in China and worldwide as Chinese leader begins third term
By CNN Staff
Anti-Xi posters on a notice board at a university campus in London.
(Obtained by CNN)
A rare, bold public protest against China’s top leader Xi Jinping in Beijing earlier this month has resonated far beyond the Chinese capital, sparking acts of solidarity from Chinese nationals inside the country and across the globe.
The protest, which saw a banner hung from Beijing’s Sitong Bridge denouncing Xi as a “dictator” and “national traitor” and calling for his removal, was swiftly ended by police and all mentions of it wiped from the Chinese internet.
But over the past week, as party elites gathered in Beijing, anti-Xi slogans echoing the Beijing protest have popped up in a growing number of Chinese cities and hundreds of universities worldwide.
In China, the slogans were scrawled on walls and doors in public bathrooms – one of the last places spared the watchful eyes of the country’s ubiquitous surveillance cameras.
Overseas, many anti-Xi posters were put up by Chinese students, who have long learned to keep their critical political views to themselves due to a culture of fear.
Under Xi, the party has ramped up surveillance and control of the Chinese diaspora, intimidating and harassing those who dare to speak out and threatening their families back home.
Xi warned of the "dangerous storms" ahead — reflecting China's increasingly assertive stance
As Xi Jinping revealed his top leadership team, he also laid out his ambitions for China and reiterated his signature goal for the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” — often called the “Chinese dream.”
“On the road ahead, no matter high winds, choppy waters, or even dangerous storms, the people will always be our most solid support and strongest confidence,” he said — adding, “The world today faces unprecedented challenges.”
In decades past, when addressing China’s Party Congress, previous leaders had stressed how China was in a “period of important strategic opportunity,” indicating the country was stable and the focus should be on economic growth. But this year, Xi opted not to use that phrase.
A combative China: CNN International Correspondent Selina Wang said Xi’s message reflects his approach — to tackle things on a “war footing.”
“It’s about struggles, it’s about combating these dangerous storms ahead,” she added — which include both domestic difficulties such as an economic slowdown and ongoing Covid disruptions, and international tensions as China adopts a more assertive stance on the world stage.
The new Standing Committee lineup, stacked with Xi's own men, is a sign of his "absolute power" in China
Xi Jinping gestures at an event to introduce new members of the Politburo Standing Committee in Beijing on Sunday.
(Tingshu Wang/Reuters)
The lineup of the new seven person Politburo Standing Committee is “the latest affirmation of Xi’s absolute power now over the party, and therefore over this nation of 1.4 billion people,” said CNN Beijing Bureau Chief Steven Jiang.
It indicated that the “old rules” surrounding party leadership — such as succession plans or promotion criteria — “no longer apply,” he added.
Xi himself began straying from precedent in 2018 when he eliminated term limits for the state role of President. Xi is the head of the party, military and state. His real power comes from his capacity as the General Secretary of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which also controls the military – not from his largely ceremonial role as President of China.
There was also a long-standing unwritten rule that top officials at the age of 68 or over would retire at the Party Congress — but several officials under that age limit are now set to retire.
New top leaders: The lineup of the seven-member elite Standing Committee, Xi’s top leadership team, has just been revealed — with four new members along with three incumbents.
The four new members “have all worked very closely with Xi Jinping, either in the provinces in Fujian and Zhejiang, or they were or are still his chief of staff or chief secretary,” said Jiang. “They are really the kind of people Xi Jinping trusts the most, and they are really in the innermost circle of his orbit of power.
Previously, promotions within the party were “based on a combination of factors” including their skills and level of experience — but this new lineup suggests this does “not seem to be the case anymore,” Jiang added.
Li Qiang, the next Premier and the second-highest ranking position in China after Xi, has not served as a vice-premier or worked in the central government in any capacity — unlike current Premier Li Keqiang and his predecessors.
No women in the new Politburo lineup, which has shrank from 25 members to 24
The new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee in Beijing on Sunday.
(Thomas Peter/Tingshu Wang/Reuters)
The Communist Party’s new Politburo — the group from which its top seven person Standing Committee is drawn from — has no female members for the first time in at least 25 years.
The last Politburo group had included one woman, but there are no women listed in the new lineup.
The last time there were no women among the full Politburo members was in 1997, at the 15th Party Congress — though there was one female alternate member, who could attend the meetings but could not vote.
The Politburo has shrank slightly, from the previous 25 members to 24. The members, who take important roles in the government, are typically men from China’s dominant ethnic Han majority.
He added that this could have a “long-lasting impact on gender equality in the party,” with no examples of female leaders at the top and fewer women to help younger members advance in their careers.
Hierarchy of power: There are several rungs in the Communist Party leadership, starting with the main leadership body, the 205-member Central Committee.
This Committee then appoints the Politburo — with typically five to nine men within that group making up the smaller Standing Committee, the apex of power.
No woman has ever been selected for the Standing Committee.
Opinion: What China will look like under Xi, the country's most powerful leader in decades
By Ian Johnson for CNN
Editor’s Note: Ian Johnson is the Stephen A. Schwarzman senior fellow for China Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.
Aircraft of the Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army conduct a joint combat training exercises around the Taiwan Island on August 7.
(Li Bingyu/Xinhua/AP)
Chinese leader Xi Jinping norm-busting third term in power will play out in important ways — with global implications.
Continued tension in foreign policy: Under Xi, China massively built up its military presence in the South China Sea, constructed military bases in South Asia and Africa, and instructed its diplomats to use very blunt, aggressive language in dealing with other countries – something known as “wolf warrior” diplomacy.
The Taiwan problem: China also took a new, harder-line approach toward the self-governing island. Unification with Taiwan is now described as “indispensable” for Xi’s key overarching policy goal of “the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” That likely means more tensions with democratic countries over Taiwan and an increased threat of Chinese invasion.
Economic slowdown: Xi’s government has initiated few market-oriented reforms, leaving huge swaths of the economy still in state hands. That’s contributed to slowing economic growth during his decade in power and growing youth unemployment.
Over the past few decades, one thing that the world economy could count on was strong Chinese economic growth. That may no longer be the case.
Political uncertainty: This uncertainty is rearing its head for the first time in decades. Even though former leader Deng Xiaoping’s system of centralized power and term limits — introduced in the 1990s — lasted only a generation, it did give China a period of political stability that it hadn’t enjoyed in more than a century.
Repression and decline: As Xi ages and further tightens his grip, his circle of friends and advisors will inevitably shrink, as will his ability to process new information and new ideas. The leadership around Xi could remain unwilling to engage in economic reforms or allow the sort of freewheeling intellectual life that in previous decades had allowed China to flourish.
Instead, repression is likely to continue, not only for parts of the country with large minority population, such as Xinjiang, but in the country’s ethnic Chinese heartland.
Zhao Leji, the current anti-corruption head, is promoted to head of China's legislature
From CNN’s Steven Jiang, Yong Xiong, and Wayne Chang
From left, Zhao Leji and Wang Huning.
(Getty Images)
Zhao Leji, current head of the party’s powerful anti-corruption body — which is responsible for implementing Xi’s sweeping crackdown on graft, with political enemies often targeted — is expected to head China’s National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature.
The promotion would place him as the third-highest ranking position in the Standing Committee, China’s top decision-making body.
Wang Huning, the Communist Party’s ideology czar, is also expected to be promoted as the head of China’s top political advisory body.
Wang, a former academic, is an influential party ideologue whose ideas have been at the forefront of China’s more assertive stance on the world stage and has been a Standing Committee member since 2017. Hs is often seen as the ultimate political chameleon and survivor after serving under Xi and his two predecessors.
Link Copied!
The meeting has ended, with Xi Jinping leaving the stage
Xi Jinping attends the meeting between members of the standing committee of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee and Chinese and foreign journalists at The Great Hall of People on Sunday.
(Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
Xi Jinping has left the stage in Beijing’s great Hall of the People and is walking out, after unveiling a Standing Committee — China’s most powerful decision-making body — full of staunch allies, clearing the path for him to rule for a third term with limited internal opposition.
The seven men stood on stage, posing for photos before a crowded room of press, before Xi delivered remarks and introduced each member.
Link Copied!
Who's who: The seven most powerful men in China
New members of the Politburo Standing Committee are introduced at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday.
(Martha Zhou/CNN)
Xi Jinping has unveiled China’s new top leaders in the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee — with himself at the helm, surrounded by allies and loyalists.
Here are the Standing Committee members, in order of rank — the same order in which they walked out on stage.
Xi Jinping, 69: China’s supreme leader is beginning a third term as chief of the Communist Party, breaking with recent precedent as he secures another five years in power.
Li Qiang, 63: Shanghai’s party chief is expected to become China’s next premier in March after the incumbent Li Keqiang steps down. It is the highest-ranking position after Xi Jinping. Unlike current Premier Li Keqiang and his predecessors, Li has not served as a vice-premier or worked in the central government in any capacity.
Zhao Leji, 65: Hailing from Xi’s ancestral home province, Zhao is currently head of the Communist Party’s anti-corruption body.
Wang Huning, 67: Wangis a hugely influential Party theorist who has written policies for Xi and his predecessors Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin.
Cai Qi, 66: Cai is the party boss of Beijing and one of Xi’s most-trusted confidants, with their ties dating back to Xi’s time in southern Fujian province. Cai oversaw the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Li Xi, 66: Li is the current party chief of China’s southern economic engine Guangdong province. A trusted Xi ally, he is expected to oversee the anti-corruption organization.
Ding Xuexiang, 60: Xi’s chief of staff and close aide had been widely seen as a leading candidate despite lacking experience as a provincial-level party chief or governor.
Of these members, Li Qiang, Cai Qi, Li Xi and Ding Xuexiang are newly appointed; the rest are incumbents.
Previous Standing Committee lineups have included younger members and potential successors — but with the youngest member at 60 years old this time, there’s no clear successor in the mix, a potential sign Xi is not stepping down anytime soon.
Link Copied!
China's next Premier will be Xi Jinping’s close ally Li Qiang
From CNN’s Steven Jiang, Yong Xiong, and Wayne Chang
Shanghai Communist Party Secretary Li Qiang attends the closing ceremony of the 20th Party Congress in Beijing on October 22.
(Tingshu Wang/Reuters)
Despite facing strong backlash for a chaotic two-month Covid-19 lockdown in Shanghai earlier this year — which saw residents denied access to food, water, medical care or other basic necessities while confined to their homes — the city’s party chief, Li Qiang, is expected to become China’s next premier in March after the incumbent Li Keqiang steps down.
It is the highest-ranking position in China after Xi Jinping.
Li’s presumptive appointment is seen as the latest proof that loyalty and affinity to Xi trumps all else in China’s current political landscape.
Li Qiang has previously worked closely under Xi in China’s southern economic powerhouse, Zhejiang province.
Unlike current Premier Li Keqiang and his predecessors, Li has not served as a vice-premier or worked in the central government in any capacity.
Here are the new top leaders in China's Standing Committee
New members of the Politburo Standing Committee, from left, Li Xi, Cai Qi, Zhao Leji, Xi Jinping, Li Qiang, Wang Huning, and Ding Xuexiang are introduced at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday.
(Ng Han Guan/AP)
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has formally stepped into his third term ruling China with an iron grip on power, as he revealed a top leadership body stacked with allies, breaking with recent precedent to secure another five years in power.
On Sunday, following the first meeting of the party’s new Central Committee, six men in addition to Xi were selected to be members of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s top ruling body:
Li Qiang
Zhao Leji
Wang Huning
Cai Qi
Li Xi
Ding Xuexiang
They now compose the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s most powerful decision-making body, and will sit atop of the party to drive the world’s second-largest economy over the coming half decade.
