The Politburo Standing Committee It was widely speculated that
Xi Jinping and
Li Keqiang would succeed
Hu Jintao and
Wen Jiabao as top
Politburo Standing Committee members by November 2012, and take over the
Presidency and
Premiership in March 2013 at the
National People's Congress. Since 2002, all Standing Committee members had retired if they were 68 or older at the time of a party congress. As a result of this largely unspoken convention, it was expected that all other members of the outgoing standing committee would have to retire at the 18th Congress. About 70% of the members of the
Central Military Commission and the executive committee of the
State Council would also turn over in 2012; in addition, every member of the
17th Central Committee born before 1945 relinquished their Central Committee membership at the Congress. The Congress marked the most significant leadership transition in decades. Chinese politics prior to the 18th National Congress trended towards "
collective leadership", where the
paramount leader had to share power with his circle of senior leaders in the Politburo Standing Committee, particularly the Premier. Thus ultimately the paramount leader was not expected to have the same amount of power accorded to it during the era of
Mao and
Deng. Apart from the largely pre-ordained selection of Xi and Li for its top two positions, intense speculation mounted over who else might join the standing committee. Two unexpected events upset the carefully balanced political equilibrium in the lead up to the Congress. The
Wang Lijun incident in early 2012 no longer made former Chongqing party chief
Bo Xilai a viable candidate for the PSC, and "Ferrari crash" of the son of
Ling Jihua, a top aide of Hu Jintao, was said to have reduced Hu's bargaining power in the leadership selection process. Initial speculation placed
Yu Zhengsheng,
Zhang Dejiang,
Li Yuanchao,
Wang Qishan, and
Wang Yang on the new standing committee. However, Li Yuanchao and Wang Yang, largely seen as belonging to the 'liberal' wing of the party, were ultimately not selected. Instead,
Liu Yunshan and
Zhang Gaoli joined the standing committee. Liu, a former Publicity Department head, took over as both the head of the party's Central Secretariat and the top official in charge of propaganda, and was seen as the most strongly conservative member in the new PSC. Zhang, a bookish party bureaucrat known for presiding over economic growth in numerous regions, was ostensibly selected for his technocratic competence. Apart from Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, all the other members of the new standing committee were born in the late 1940s and therefore would need to retire at the
19th National Congress if the informally mandated retirement rules still holds in 2017. Li Yuanchao (born 1950) and Wang Yang (born 1955) ostensibly could still join the 19th standing committee at that time. The 18th Politburo Standing Committee was formed on 15 November 2012, the newly formed
Politburo Standing Committee consisted of (in order ranking)
Xi Jinping,
Li Keqiang, from the 17th Central Committee, in addition to newcomers: :3.
Zhang Dejiang (3rd-ranked
Vice Premier and Party Chief of
Chongqing) :4.
Yu Zhengsheng (Party chief of
Shanghai) :5.
Liu Yunshan (Head of the
CCP Publicity Department and elected as Top-ranked
Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the CCP) :6.
Wang Qishan (4th-ranked
Vice Premier and elected as
Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection) :7.
Zhang Gaoli (Party chief of
Tianjin) File:Xi Jinping Sept. 19, 2012.jpg|
Xi Jinping File:Li_Keqiang_(cropped).jpg|
Li Keqiang File:Zhang Dejiang.jpg|
Zhang Dejiang File:Yu Zhengsheng.jpg|
Yu Zhengsheng File:Liu-Yunshan.png|
Liu Yunshan File:Wang Qishan 2010.jpg|
Wang Qishan File:Zhang-Gaoli.png|
Zhang Gaoli The Politburo The 18th Politburo was also named at the Congress. Within the 17th Politburo, eleven members were born after 1945. Of these, seven were named to the Standing Committee (see above); and the remaining three,
Liu Yandong,
Li Yuanchao, and
Wang Yang, retained their Politburo seats.
Bo Xilai was suspended from the Politburo prior to the Congress. All 14 members of the 17th Politburo born prior to 1945 relinquished their Politburo membership due to having reached the mandatory retirement age of 68 at the time of the Congress. Conversely, this also meant that all members of the 17th Politburo born after 1945 (except Bo Xilai) maintained their Politburo membership. Since the majority of members of the 17th Politburo retired at the Congress, some fifteen seats on the 18th Politburo were to be filled by newcomers. Notable additions to the Politburo included
Wang Huning, who became the first head of the party's
Central Policy Research Office to hold a seat on the Politburo;
Li Zhanshu, former
Guizhou party chief who took over as head of the party's General Office;
Meng Jianzhu, former Minister of Public Security who took on the portfolio of the Central Legal and Political Affairs Commission; and
Hu Chunhua and
Sun Zhengcai, two officials born after 1960 who took on major regional party leadership posts in
Guangdong and
Chongqing, respectively, following the Congress. By convention, the members are listed in
stroke order of surnames. •
Ma Kai (born 1946),
Vice Premier •
Wang Huning (born 1955), Director of the Policy Research Office of the CCP Central Committee •
Liu Yandong (born 1945),
Vice Premier •
Liu Qibao (born 1953), Secretary of the CCP Central Secretariat, Head of the
CCP Publicity Department •
Xu Qiliang (born 1950), Vice Chairman of the
Central Military Commission •
Sun Chunlan (born 1950), party chief of Tianjin (until 2014); head of the CCP
United Front Work Department •
Sun Zhengcai (born 1963), Party chief of
Chongqing (until 2017; expelled) •
Li Jianguo (born 1946), Vice-chairman and Secretary-General of the
National People's Congress •
Li Yuanchao (born 1950),
Vice President of China •
Wang Yang (born 1955),
Vice Premier •
Zhang Chunxian (born 1953), Party chief of
Xinjiang (until 2016); deputy leader, Leading Group for Party Building •
Fan Changlong (born 1947), Vice Chairman of the
Central Military Commission •
Meng Jianzhu (born 1947), Secretary of the
Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission •
Zhao Leji (born 1957), Secretary of the CCP Central Secretariat, Head of the
CCP Organization Department •
Hu Chunhua (born 1963), Party chief of
Guangdong •
Li Zhanshu (born 1950), Secretary of CCP Central Secretariat, Chief of the
General Office of the Chinese Communist Party •
Guo Jinlong (born 1947), Party chief of
Beijing (until 2017); Vice Chairman, Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization •
Han Zheng (born 1955), Party chief of
Shanghai Leaving the Politburo •
Bo Xilai expelled from the politburo before the 18th National Congress due to the
Wang Lijun incident and other violations. •
Wang Gang, Vice Chairman of
CPPCC National Committee •
Wang Lequan, Deputy Secretary of the
Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission •
Wang Zhaoguo, Vice Chairman of
National People's Congress, Chair of the
All-China Federation of Trade Unions •
Hui Liangyu, 2nd ranked Vice Premier •
Liu Qi, Party chief of Beijing, head of
Beijing Olympics organizing committee •
Li Changchun, Chairman of the
Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization •
Wu Bangguo,
Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress •
Zhou Yongkang, Secretary of the
Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission •
Hu Jintao,
CCP General Secretary,
PRC President,
Chairman of the Central Military Commission •
He Guoqiang,
Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection •
Jia Qinglin,
Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference •
Xu Caihou, Vice Chairman of Central Military Commission •
Guo Boxiong, Vice Chairman of Central Military Commission •
Wen Jiabao,
Premier of the State Council The Secretariat The Secretariat, mainly overseeing party affairs and acting as the day-to-day executive arm of the Central Committee, was led by PSC member Liu Yunshan, who also held the post of President of the
Central Party School. Liu Qibao, Zhao Leji, and Li Zhanshu earned seats on the Secretariat, as was anticipated for the heads of the Propaganda, Organization, and
General Office. Zhao Hongzhu succeeded
He Yong's place on the secretariat as the top-ranked
Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Departing from the previous composition of the body,
Du Qinglin, outgoing United Front Department chief, who held no other post at the time (he was later elected a ceremonial vice-chair of the CPPCC in March 2013), was elevated to the Secretariat. Similarly,
Yang Jing, ethnic Mongol and former chairman of Inner Mongolia, who would go on to be named
Secretary-General of the State Council, 'broke convention' and earned a seat on the Secretariat, signalling that the top government organ, the State Council, will work in closer coordination with the Party.
Ministerial positions • State council positions were confirmed at the
12th National People's Congress in March 2013 during the
1st Plenary Session. ==See also==