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SCMP Reporters

Wang Qishan, China’s formidable former anti-corruption tsar, will continue to wield political influence in new Communist Party and state roles carved out for him by president and party chief Xi Jinping.
He has been given the rare privilege of attending meetings of the party’s supreme Politburo Standing Committee as a non-voting member, despite having stood down from the highest decision-making body in Chinese politics in October.
Meanwhile, he is also expected to be named vice-president – a less significant role in the Chinese hierarchy – at the annual session of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, in March, according to several sources.
He’s the anti-graft tsar about to leave China’s top leadership. So what will happen to Wang Qishan?
Wang, 69, left the Politburo Standing Committee in the reshuffle at the party’s five-yearly national congress in October and has quit all party leadership roles.
There had been intense speculation before the reshuffle that Xi was considering circumventing informal retirement rules that require Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee members aged 68 or above at the time of a party congress to stand down. However, Xi ultimately respected the informal rules and leaned towards maintaining political continuity and stability when deciding the leadership line-up.

But Wang’s crucial role in implementing Xi’s successful anti-graft campaign over the past five years and his proven skills as a problem solver, on issues ranging from a financial crisis in the 1990s to an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, have convinced Xi to keep Wang on in different but equally significant roles.

Some analysts say keeping Wang on would also send a powerful message about the continuation of Xi’s unprecedented anti-corruption campaign, which has netted hundreds of thousands of corrupt officials in the past five years.
Chen Daoyin, a Shanghai-based political scientist, said Xi’s decision to retain Wang, who had acquired formidable personal authority in the past five years, was aimed at enhancing political stability and continuity.
“Wang is not a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, so he is not likely to cast any vote, but he shall be able to speak as an elder or consultant,” he said.
Anti-corruption chief Wang Qishan steps down from top Chinese leadership as Xi Jinping’s name is enshrined in Communist Party charter
Allowing Wang to continue to attend meetings of the Politburo Standing Committee is a significant departure from recent practice but not without precedent.
In the 1980s, president Yang Shangkun was merely a Politburo member but was allowed to attend meetings of the innermost Politburo Standing Committee.
There are also precedents for the naming of Wang as vice-president.
In the late 1980s, Wang Zhen became vice-president after he stepped down from the Politburo and he was succeeded in the mid 1990s by Rong Yiren, who was not known to be a party member.
The vice-presidency was merely a ceremonial job at the time, but it took on more importance in 1998, when Hu Jintao assumed the job as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.

Xi was vice-president and a Politburo Standing Committee member for five years before he succeeded Hu as the head of the party in 2012 and head of state in 2013.
But the vice-presidency became less important once again in 2013 with the appointment of Li Yuanchao, a Politburo member, to the post. Li stepped down from the Politburo in October.
One sign of Wang Qishan’s continuing stature despite his retirement is that he is still believed to work at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in central Beijing – the headquarters of the party and government.
Secret meeting with Steve Bannon in Beijing adds to speculation over Wang Qishan’s future
His new roles are expected to be welcomed by the international business community because of his reformist credentials.
Last month he hosted a welcome dinner for international business leaders on the advisory board of Tsinghua University’s school of economics and management, including Apple chief executive Tim Cook and former US treasury secretary Henry Paulson, sources said.
But Beijing-based political commentator Zhang Lifan said Wang Qishan’s new roles could raise concerns about a return to the gerontocracy of the 1980s, when retired or semi-retired party elders still wielded strong political influence.


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Wang Qishan

Wang Qishan still attending top Communist Party meetings and in line for China’s vice-presidency

Wang, 69, left the Politburo Standing Committee in the reshuffle at the party’s five-yearly national congress in October

FILE PHOTO: China's Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Qishan, the head of China's anti-corruption watchdog, attends the opening session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, March 5, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo

PLA Soldiers stand guard in front of entrance of the Zhongnanhai in Beijing. 10APR17 SCMP / Sam Tsang

(From left) President Xi Jinping, Wang Qishan and Premier Li Keqiang at a ceremony marking Martyrs' Day at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in September. Photo: AP

He’s the anti-graft tsar about to leave China’s top leadership. So what will happen to Wang Qishan?

Wang Qishan, a key ally of President Xi Jinping, could be given position on powerful National Security Commission

(171009) -- BEIJING, Oct. 9, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Wang Qishan (2nd L), a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), addresses the Eighth Plenary Session of the 18th CCDI of the CPC in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 9, 2017.  (Xinhua/Ding Lin) (zkr)

(170920) -- BEIJING, Sept. 20, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Wang Qishan (R), head of the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, meets with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing, capital of China, Sept. 20, 2017.  (Xinhua/Li Tao) (lfj)

(171019) -- BEIJING, Oct. 19, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Wang Qishan speaks during a panel discussion with delegates from Hunan Province who attend the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 19, 2017. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei) (lb)

Wang Qishan (left) and President Xi Jinping at the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing in March 2015. Photo: Reuters

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Wang, 69, left the Politburo Standing Committee in the reshuffle at the party’s five-yearly national congress in October


China's leadership reshuffle 2017: All articles

China's leadership reshuffle 2017

Exclusive | Wang Qishan still attending top Communist Party meetings and in line for China’s vice-presidency

Wang, 69, left the Politburo Standing Committee in the reshuffle at the party’s five-yearly national congress in October