China's Communist Party today opens the last full meeting of its Central Committee ahead of a congress next year expected to usher in a new generation of leaders.
China-watchers are looking to the three-day gathering for clues to the future leadership line-up.
President Jiang Zemin (
"The background maneuvering on everything is going to be [focused on] the party congress coming up next year and setting the stage for that," one Beijing-based Western diplomat said.
Jiang and four other members of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee are set to retire at next year's meeting and analysts said Jiang, also general secretary of the party, would be jockeying to fill those spots with his supporters.
"Jiang has to come up big at this plenum, or else he will look weak," said Joseph Fewsmith, a professor of international relations and a China specialist at Boston University.
One of Jiang's top priorities will be to secure full membership in the Politburo for his protege Zeng Qinghong (曾慶紅), who heads the party's influential organization department.
It is a task he failed at last year.
Jiang, National People's Congress Chairman Li Peng (李鵬) and Premier Zhu Rongji (朱鎔基) are set to give up their party posts next year and government posts in 2003.
Jiang's expected successor is Hu Jintao (
But analysts said Jiang was trying to line up Zeng, a close adviser who came to Beijing with him from Shanghai in 1989, to succeed or possibly rival Hu, who was anointed as Jiang's successor by Deng. By securing political allies in the Politburo Standing Committee, Jiang will ensure he remains influential after his retirement, they said.
Most analysts think Jiang will retain the chairmanship of the powerful Central Military Commission after relinquishing his other posts, like Deng before him.
Analysts said Jiang would also lobby hard at the plenum for support for his "Three Represents" theory and a July 1 speech in which he urged the party to admit capitalists into its ranks.
Jiang's theory holds that the party represents the interests of advanced productive forces, advanced culture and a wide sector of the population.
His embrace of capitalists has infuriated the conservative old guard, who believe Jiang has betrayed the party of workers and peasants.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
RSS