Friends in high places: Xi Jinping’s determined path to control
China’s most powerful president in decades is aiming to install more political allies in the top jobs, and in the key provinces, so that he can make his mark
Emerging from his first term as China’s most powerful leader in decades, President Xi Jinping will be looking to dominate personnel decisions at a five-yearly shake-up later this month.
At that much-anticipated meeting, which begins on October 18, the line-up will be unveiled for the Politburo and its Standing Committee – the country’s top echelons of power – for Xi’s second term at the helm of the world’s largest political party.
Xi’s first term line-up was a compromise influenced by his two immediate predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin.
Although the Communist Party presents an all-powerful, unified facade, its top leader can often be stymied by factional tensions and the long shadows cast by influential predecessors when it comes to deciding who’s in and who’s out.
These decisions are dominated by outgoing and former leaders – often after months of intense, secretive horse-trading among different factions.
But Xi has shown no patience for such constraints. In his first term, he has taken a firm grip on most areas of policymaking by setting up and presiding over a cluster of “central leading groups” that have enabled him to get around the traditional division of power within the leadership.
