Posts tagged ‘Xi JinPing’

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06/11/2012

* China leaders consider internal democratic reform

Even if it seems to be somewhat internal, such a move would be the first step towards openness and transparency.  And who knows where that might lead.

Reuters: “China’s outgoing leader and his likely successor are pushing the ruling Communist Party to adopt a more democratic process this month for choosing a new leadership, sources said, in an attempt to boost its flagging legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

A man walks past a logo of the Communist Party of China (CPC) at a media center for the upcoming18th National Congress of the CPC, which starts Thursday, in Beijing November 5, 2012. REUTERS-Jason Lee

The extent of the reform would be unprecedented in communist China where elections for the highest tiers of the party, held every five years, have been mainly exercises in rubber-stamping candidates already agreed upon by party power-brokers.

The Communist Party, which has held unbroken power since 1949, is struggling to maintain its popular legitimacy in the face of rising inequality, corruption and environmental degradation, even as the economy continues to bound ahead.

President Hu Jintao and his heir, Xi Jinping, have proposed that the party’s 18th Congress, which opens on Thursday, should hold elections for the elite Politburo where for the first time there would be more candidates than available seats, said three sources with ties to the party leadership.

The Politburo, currently 24 members, is the second-highest level of power in China from which the highest decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, is chosen.

They are chosen by the roughly 200 full members of the Central Committee which is in turn chosen by the more than 2,000 delegates at this week’s Congress.

Under their proposal, there would be up to 20 percent more candidates than seats in the new Politburo in an election to be held next week, the sources said. It was unclear if competitive voting would also be extended to the Standing Committee.

“Hu wants expanding intra-party democracy to be one of his legacies,” one source said, requesting anonymity to avoid repercussions for discussing secretive elite politics.

“It would also be good for Xi’s image,” the source added.

Xi is considered certain to replace Hu as party chief at the congress, with Li Keqiang, currently a vice premier, tipped to become his deputy in the once-in-a-decade transition to a new administration. Xi would then take over as president, and Li as premier, at the annual full session of parliament in March.

China experts said a more competitive election for the Politburo would mark a historic reform that could lead to surprises in the formation of Xi’s administration, with wider implications for further political reform.

“This is a very, very important development,” said Cheng Li, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“It would provide a new source of legitimacy. It would not just be dark-box manipulation … The party’s legitimacy is so low that they must do something to uplift the public’s confidence.”

However, Li and other experts remained skeptical that the proposal would be adopted, given that it could still be vetoed by party elders or conservatives.

via Exclusive: China leaders consider internal democratic reform | Reuters.

Posted in 10 year leadership change, China alert, Democracy, Good news, Politics, Reform, Transparency | 1 Comment »

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27/09/2012

* Rudd Sees More Economic Reforms in China

WSJ: “Australia’s former prime minister and longtime China watcher Kevin Rudd said Thursday that China’s incoming leadership will be strongly reform-minded on the economy and usher in a new era of diplomacy in the region.

As territorial disputes between China and Japan escalate, Mr. Rudd said Chinese leaders also face numerous challenges, including the flight of capital among the nation’s wealthy and a slowing economy. However, he expressed confidence in the ability of presumptive next leader Xi Jinping and his team to manage domestic challenges and foreign relations, calling him “the sort of leader that the Americans can do business with.”

The U.S. has sought to expand its influence in Asia to counterbalance China’s growing regional clout, announcing plans to increase its naval presence in the Pacific and sending top officials to canvass the region. Such moves have complicated relations between the two powerhouses, but Mr. Rudd—who said he spent much time with Mr. Xi when he was Australia’s prime minister—said he anticipates Mr. Xi’s rise will help alleviate such tensions.

“I believe that Xi Jinping will want to work…with the Americans on a common road map for the region’s future,” Mr. Rudd told The Wall Street Journal at the end of a two-week trip to China and Hong Kong. Mr. Xi’s ascension will allow the U.S. and China to “carve out a different period of strategic cooperation.”

Mr. Rudd said he expects further privatization of Chinese state-owned firms after the new leadership takes over, in part to address private sector companies’ concerns about their business prospects, which has led to some capital outflows. He also expects further currency liberalization and said that change is necessary, because the current growth model can’t sustain full employment in China.”

via Rudd Sees More Economic Reforms in China – WSJ.com.

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19/09/2012

# Profile: Xi Jinping – China’s next leader?

BBC News: “Xi Jinping is expected to be the next Chinese leader.

A file photo taken on 17 August, 2012 of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing

Vice-President Xi Jinping is widely tipped to become China’s next president and Communist Party chief.

Current leader Hu Jintao must retire as head of the party in 2012 and from the presidency in 2013, and Mr Xi’s current positions all suggest he is in place to assume the top jobs.

The 59-year-old, seen as a “princeling” – a term applied to senior officials who are thought to owe at least some of their success to family connections, is already on the standing committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

He is also one of the vice-chairmen of the party’s Central Military Commission, which controls the army.

Analysts see this appointment – a position Mr Hu held before he secured the top post – as a key indicator that he is tipped for the top in the leadership change expected in coming weeks.

Path to the top

Born in Beijing in 1953, he is the son of revolutionary veteran Xi Zhongxun, one of the Communist Party’s founding fathers.

Xi Zhongxun was purged from the post of vice-premier in 1962 prior to the Cultural Revolution and eventually imprisoned. The young Xi Jinping was then sent to work in the countryside like most other “intellectual youth” of the time.

He went on to study chemical engineering at Tsinghua University in Beijing, which has produced many of China’s current top leaders, including Hu Jintao.

Xi Jinping’s military appointment intensified assumptions he will succeed Hu Jintao

Joining the Communist Party in 1974, he served as a local party secretary in Hebei province and then went on to ever more senior roles in Fujian and then Zhejiang provinces.

He was named party chief of Shanghai in 2007 when its former chief, Chen Liangyu, was sacked over corruption charges. Shortly after, he was promoted to the party’s Standing Committee and, in 2008, became vice-president.

Xi Jinping is seen as pro-business, after working hard to attract foreign investment to Fujian and Zhejiang.

In 2005, when he was the Communist Party secretary in Zhejiang, he told media that “government should be a limited government”.

Whenever there are issues that the government was incapable of handling, he said, the public should be given back the power to tackle them.

Seen as having a zero-tolerance attitude to corrupt officials, Mr Xi has twice been drafted in to trouble-shoot major problems.

In Fujian he helped to clear up a corruption scandal in the late 1990s which involved the jailed smuggling kingpin Lai Changxing.

In 2004, he reportedly told officials: “Rein in your spouses, children, relatives, friends and staff, and vow not to use power for personal gain.”

When, in June 2012, a Bloomberg investigative report examined the finances of his relatives, the company’s website was blocked in China – even though the report said there was no indication of wrongdoing by him or his family.”

via BBC News – Profile: Xi Jinping – China’s next leader?.

See also: https://chindia-alert.org/political-factors/

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04/09/2012

* China’s next leader buoyed by fresh setback for Hu

Reuters: “China’s next leader, Xi Jinping, looks to have emerged politically stronger after ruling Communist Party elders foiled a second attempt by outgoing President Hu Jintao to stack the top echelon of the new administration with his own allies.

China's Vice President Xi Jinping speaks with Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi (not pictured) during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing August 29, 2012. REUTERS/How Hwee Young/Pool

Hu had been maneuvering to promote his star protege, Hu Chunhua, to the party’s supreme decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, as part of the current leadership transition, but other senior party figures have opposed the idea, two independent sources said.

Hu Chunhua, who is not related to Hu Jintao, is instead likely to be given one of China’s biggest but also most testing political assignments as new party chief of southwestern Chongqing, the job from which disgraced politician Bo Xilai was ousted, said the sources with ties to the top party leadership.

The sideways move for Hu Chunhua, currently party boss for Inner Mongolia, follows the demotion of another of Hu Jintao’s closest allies at the weekend – both taken as signs that Xi may have a relatively freer hand to forge consensus among peers.

“Hu’s (Jintao) loss is Xi’s gain,” one of the sources with ties to the leadership told Reuters, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject. “Xi is in a less difficult situation.”

China, currently mired in an economic downturn, faces growing calls for it to step up the pace of economic and social reforms, a task that could prove trickier for Xi if the Standing Committee were to include politicians reluctant to make changes to the cautious direction set by Hu over the past decade.

But the situation remains fluid, with the make-up of the new Standing Committee, currently comprising nine members, still to be finalized in a once-in-a-decade transition to be unveiled at the party’s 18th congress, expected next month at the earliest.”

via China’s next leader buoyed by fresh setback for Hu: sources | Reuters.

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31/08/2012

* China’s Hu seeks clean power handover with ally’s promotion

Reuters: “China’s outgoing President Hu Jintao is angling to promote one of his closest allies to the military’s decision-making body, sources said, in a move that would allow him to maintain an influence over Beijing’s most potent instrument of power.

China's President Hu Jintao smiles during a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (not pictured) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing August 30, 2012. REUTERS/Diego Azubel/Pool

Three sources with ties to the top leadership said Hu hopes to cut all of his direct links to the top echelons of power by early 2013, on the understanding that his protégé, Vice Premier Li Keqiang, is made a vice chairman of the military commission at the party’s five-yearly congress later this year.

Hu wants a clean handover of the party leadership, the presidency and the top military post to his anointed successor, Xi Jinping, over the next seven months, to avoid a repeat of the past internal rancor when a transition of power took place, sources say.

They point to the example of his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, who clung onto the top job at the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission for two years after stepping down as party chief and president, a move seen as unpopular with party cadres and the public.

Hu, as president, is the current military commission chairman and, like Jiang, could choose to stay on as its chief for another couple of years beyond his handover of the presidency to Xi in March 2013.

In what is seen as the ultimate bulwark of power, the commission oversees the 2.3-million strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as well as the People’s Armed Police which enforces domestic security.

Hu has not made public his plans for retirement but, unlike in the West where former presidents and prime ministers tend to fade from the public eye, Chinese leaders seek to maintain influence to avoid possible adverse political repercussions down the road.

The government generally does not comment on elite politics and personnel changes before the official announcement.

As a senior member of the commission, Li, who is also set to be named as the next premier in March 2013, would be expected to help protect Hu’s legacy in the area of military affairs, which has included a more moderate approach towards Taiwan and to territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea.

“Hu hopes to go down in history as the first leader (since 1949) to step down when his term ends instead of being reluctant to go,” a businessman with leadership ties said.

As well as helping to preserve Hu’s legacy, analysts say Li’s promotion will ensure there is no political retribution against Hu or his family by rivals who remain in power once he is gone.

But bargaining over the next leadership line-up is not over, and there is still room for change and surprises.”

via Exclusive: China’s Hu seeks clean power handover with ally’s promotion – sources | Reuters.

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31/08/2012

* Does China’s next leader have a soft spot for Tibet?

Reuters: “For decades, Beijing has maintained that the Dalai Lama is a separatist, but Tibet‘s exiled spiritual leader once had a special relationship with the father of Xi Jinping, the man in line to become China’s next president.

China's Vice President Xi Jinping speaks with Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi (not pictured) during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing August 29, 2012. REUTERS/How Hwee Young/Pool

Few people know what Xi, whose ascent to the leadership is likely to be approved at a Communist Party congress later this year, thinks of Tibet or the Dalai Lama.

But his late father, Xi Zhongxun, a liberal-minded former vice premier, had a close bond with the Tibetan leader who once gave the elder Xi an expensive watch in the 1950s, a gift that the senior party official was still wearing decades later.

The Dalai Lama, 77, recalls the elder Xi as “very friendly, comparatively more open-minded, very nice” and says he only gave watches back then to those Chinese officials he felt close to.

“We Tibetans, we get these different varieties of watch easily from India. So we take advantage of that, and brought some watches to some people when we feel some sort of close feeling, as a gift like that,” the Dalai Lama said in an interview in the Indian town of Dharamsala, a capital for Tibetan exiles in the foothills of the Himalayas.

The Dalai Lama gave the watch to the elder Xi in 1954 during an extended visit to Beijing. Xi was one of the officials who spent time with the young Dalai Lama in the capital where he spent five to six months studying Chinese and Marxism.

The Dalai Lama fled to India five years later, after a failed uprising against Communist rule, but as late as 1979, Xi senior was still wearing the watch, the make and style of which the Dalai Lama can no longer remember.

Xi senior was a dove in the party, championing the rights of Tibetans, Uighurs and other ethnic minorities. He also opposed the army crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen student protests and was alone in criticizing the sacking of liberal party chief Hu Yaobang by the Old Guard in 1987. Xi senior died in 2002.

The Dalai Lama has never met Xi junior but his fondness for the father is, for some, a sign that China’s next leader may adopt a more reformist approach to Tibet once he formally succeeds President Hu Jintao next March. Some expect him to be more tolerant of Muslim Uighurs in the western region of Xinjiang, and also of Taiwan, the independently ruled island that China has vowed to take back, by force if necessary.

“To understand what kind of leader Xi Jinping will be, one must study his father’s (policies),” said Bao Tong, one-time top aide to purged party chief Zhao Ziyang. Bao was jailed for seven years for sympathizing with student-led demonstrations for democracy centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.

“No (Chinese) Communist will betray his father,” he added.”

via Insight: Does China’s next leader have a soft spot for Tibet? | Reuters.

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14/07/2012

* China top leaders vow to better handle people’s petitions

Xinhua: “China’s top leaders on Friday met representatives for a nationwide conference on the work of handling the people’s petitions, vowing to safeguard the people’s rights and interests and strengthen ties between the authorities and the people.

President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao, Vice President Xi Jinping and Vice Premier Li Keqiang met the representatives before the conference, extending their greetings to all the government staff handling the people’s letters and calls.

Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and secretary of the Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, also met representatives and delivered a speech at the conference.

The petitioning, also known as letters and calls, is the administrative system for hearing complaints and grievances from Chinese citizens.

The bureaus of letters and calls at all levels are commissioned to receive letters, calls, and visits from individuals or groups, and then channel the issues to respective departments, and monitor the progress of settlement.”

via China top leaders vow to better handle people’s petitions – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

Petitioning has been a historic means for members of the public, however lowly to put forward their grievances to someone high enough to deal with it. Sometimes, a petition would go all the way to the Emperor or, at least, to his chief minister.

The Chinese government is merely reaffirming this historic practice.

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petitioning_(China)

Posted in China alert, History, Human rights, Petitions, Politics | 3 Comments »

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31/05/2012

* Senior leader says to promote Xinjiang’s leapfrog development

Xinhua: “Vice Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday called for more support to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to achieve leapfrog development and long-term stability in this westernmost region of China. Li made the remarks at the 3rd National Work Conference on “pairing assistance” projects to support Xinjiang’s development.

Maps of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of Ch...

Maps of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China Español: Región autónoma de Xinjiang (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

President Hu Jintao met the delegates to the annual conference and thanked them for their efforts made in accelerating Xinjiang’s development. Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice President Xi Jinping, both members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China CPC Central Committee, were present at the meeting.  Zhou Yongkang, also member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, also met with the delegates and attended the conference.

Huge achievements have been made in the past two years under a large number of pairing assistance projects for Xinjiang, especially projects concerning Xinjiang people’s well-being, said Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Vast land, abundant resources and huge development potential make Xinjiang a major area to implement China’s strategy to expand domestic demand and the strategy to develop the country’s western regions, Li said, adding Xinjiang is also a key area to accommodate transfer of domestic industries. Xinjiang is one of the bridgeheads for China’s opening to central Asia and Europe, said Li, calling for speeding up the opening of China’s western border areas while enhancing the openness of its eastern coastal regions.

Li noted that assisting the development of Xinjiang is a long-lasting, arduous and imperative task. More efforts and higher effectiveness are needed to advance the programs concerning the well-being of local people, such as housing, employment, medical care and social insurance, while the infrastructure construction and environmental protection should be further improved, said Li. More support regarding technology, education, talented people and excellent cadres should be provided to Xinjiang, and the exchanges between Xinjiang and inland areas should be enhanced, Li added.”

via Senior leader says to promote Xinjiangs leapfrog development – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

Xinjiang and Tibet are the two areas where ethnic minorities do not see eye to eye with the Han majority. Interestingly, both are strong adherents of religion; Buddhism in the case of Tibet and Islam in the case of Xinjiang. Until and unless the central authorities can convince these minorities that they have some form of self-determination (after all both are called ‘autonomous regions’ of China), unrest will continue.

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