English
Français
Extract and translated from the French E-bulletin China Analysis – Les Nouvelles de Chine n°14, July–Aug. 2007, pp. 5-6
French Editor: M.Meidan/M.Duchâtel. Translation: Jonathan Hall
At the end of the summer, there were numerous changes at the top of the Party and the central government. Particularly noteworthy were: the appointment of Meng Xuenong, the deposed mayor of Beijing and ally of Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong to the post of Deputy Party Secretary in Shanxi province, a move that supposedly allows the Party Secretary Yu Youjun to return to Beijing and assume ministerial functions, after having, apparently; survived the recent scandals in the province; the retirement of the Finance Minister, Jin Renqing who is said to have been involved in corruption scandals (according to the Hong Kong press, linked to the departure of Chen Tonghai from Sinopec); the appointment of He Ping, an ally of President Hu, to head the Xinhua press agency, the regime's main propaganda organ; the replacement of Zhang Qinwei by Zhang Bolin as Minister of Personnel, and of Zhang Yunchuan by Zhang Qinwei at the head of the Committee of Science, Technology, and Industry of Defence.
These ministerial changes may seem to come at a surprising moment, two months before the new appointments to the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party are due to be announced. However, the Party Congress will announce only promotions to key posts in the Party hierarchy (the final makeup of the Politburo will only be made known at the end of the Congress), whereas ministerial changes are announced (and approved) by the National People's Assembly.
The fate of Zeng Qinghong is the object of much speculation. Will he retain his position on the standing committee of the Politburo? Will he replace Jia Qinglin as leader of the Chinese People's Consultative Committee? In any events, it seems quite obvious that by the end of the Congress, Hu Jintao's hold on power will have been strengthened.
Michal Meidan
- Benjamin Kang Lim, "Allies tapped as Hu builds on strength", The Standard, 1 septembre, 2007
One of President Hu Jintao's closest aides is tipped for promotion, while an ally who was sacked as Beijing mayor during the 2003 SARS crisis has made a political comeback, signs of the leader's growing strength.
The changes were part of a reshuffle ahead of the party's 17th congress, which opens on October 15 with Hu expected to promote more of his men to key posts and further consolidate power.
Ling Jihua, 50, deputy director of the General Office of the Communist Party's Central Committee, is expected to replace Wang Gang, 64, as director in the near future, two sources with ties to the leadership said.
"It's a very important job," one source said, adding it was an indication Hu was politically stronger.
The general office is the party's nerve center, handling classified documents and administrative and logistical affairs of the party's 23-member, decision-making Politburo.
Previous directors of the general office were concurrently alternate members of the Politburo, including Wen Jiabao, who is now premier, and Zeng Qinghong, the vice president.
State media said former Beijing mayor Meng Xuenong, 58, had been appointed deputy party boss of the coal- rich northern province of Shanxi.
"Hu does not have a lot of people he can trust," a second source said, referring to Meng's comeback.
On Thursday, parliament approved the appointments of new ministers of state security, personnel and supervision.
Analysts said the changes meant more emphasis on Hu's policy of "scientific development" to correct China's path from that of the previous administration, which featured growth at the expense of the environment.
Meng is expected eventually to replace Yu Youjun, 54, as Shanxi governor after the provincial people's congress rubber-stamps his promotion.
A vice minister of the party's organizational department, which is responsible for personnel appointments, said Yu would be given an unspecified "important" job because the party "approves of and trusts" him.
Yu would be named a Cabinet minister, the sources said.
Months after Hu took the top job in the Communist Party in November 2002, China was gripped by SARS, which swept through Guangdong and Hong Kong before spreading globally in 2003. It infected some 8,000 people and killed around 800.
Hu sacked Meng, an ally of Hu's predecessor Jiang Zemin, from the posts of Beijing mayor and health minister for a cover-up and ordered the government to come clean on the epidemic.
Meng was a one-time Beijing deputy secretary of the Communist Youth League, which is Hu's power base and is known as the Communist Party's "helping hand and reserve army" and boasts 71.9 million members.
After his stint as Beijing mayor, Meng was appointed deputy head of a multibillion-dollar project to divert water from China's flood-prone south to its parched north.