Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) left his position early as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) consolidates control over the world’s second-largest economy.
Li was not included in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) new 200-member Central Committee, a requirement for joining the more powerful Central Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP. That marks an end to Li’s decade as China’s No. 2 official, and a long career that at one point saw him in the running to lead the nation — a role he lost to Xi.
While Li, 67, announced earlier this year that he would step down as premier in March next year, in line with the position’s two-term limit, he would have been young enough for a fourth stint on the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee.
Photo: AFP
Xi, 69, tore up age norms governing retirement at the close of the party congress meeting in Beijing, breaking the age cap of 68 en route to a precedent-breaking third term in office.
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Yang (汪洋), 67, considered a contender for premier, also exited early, clearing a path for Xi loyalists more compliant with his directives to take the role.
Li, a trained economist, saw his push for more liberal policies in some sectors stymied as Xi increased the CCP’s role over the government in policymaking.
Li’s reputation as a relatively liberal official took hold in the 1980s, when he translated English works on constitutional law by a British judge. He later studied for a doctorate in economics under one of China’s leading advocates for market reform.
Li carved out a policy platform based on cutting red-tape and taxes on business. He also called for city growth to be linked with the provision of employment and public services.
However, his role diminished once Xi moved key economic policy decisions to a series of party committees led by himself and his trusted economic aide, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (劉鶴).
“I think Li Keqiang very early on recognized the realities of his position and adapted to it without getting on the wrong side of Xi,” Nanyang Technological University assistant professor Dylan Loh said. “This year he’s been a bit more open with talking about stuff. That could be because he’d decided to retire.”
China’s “zero COVID” lockdown policy fueled speculation of a policy divergence between Xi and Li.
With Li’s departure, Xi could further diminish the role of the premiership. His ally and CCP Committee Secretary of Shanghai Li Qiang (李強) is a leading candidate for the post.
Meanwhile the congress concluded yesterday and ended a week of largely rubber-stamp meetings among 2,300 CCP delegates who were selected by the party to approve a reshuffle of its leadership.
However in an unexpected move at such a heavily choreographed event, former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) was led out of the closing ceremony. He seemed reluctant to leave the front row where he was sitting next to Xi.
After an exchange of about a minute, in which Hu spoke briefly with Xi and Li, he was led out of the hall.
A seated Xi was filmed holding papers down on the desk as Hu tried to grab them. Hu patted Li Keqiang’s shoulder as he left.
The new Central Committee of about 200 senior CCP officials was elected yesterday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, without disclosing a list of members.
Security was also a focus of the congress, in which Xi lauded Hong Kong’s transition from “chaos to governance” and vowed to “never commit to abandoning the use of force” to seize Taiwan.
The Congress was set to further cement Xi’s position as China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong (毛澤東), with analysts predicting that he was virtually certain to be reappointed for a third term in power.
Xi’s work report “is a carefully scripted drama through which the power of the CCP, its leader, and its ideas are meant to be elevated and amplified,” wrote David Bandurski, editor of the University of Hong Kong’s China Media Project.
However, some key questions remain unresolved, including whether Xi would appoint a potential successor to the Politburo Standing Committee and whether a more succinct form of his signature political philosophy would be enshrined in the charter of the 96-million-strong party.
The latter would make Xi Jinping Thought “the latest, 21st-century rendition of Marxism [and] the state ideology of China,” said Steve Tsang (曾銳生), director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London.
“Xi’s power will be akin to that of the dictator of China, and there will be next to no scope for anyone to advise him to attempt course correction,” Tsang said. “This will increase the risk of policy mistakes being made, as everything will depend on Xi getting it right.”
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS