Zhu Jianguo, an independent political commentator based in Shenzhen, said: “Hu is relatively stronger than [predecessor] Wang Yang as he responds to issues with actions instead of the fancy catchphrases that Wang was known for.

[...] ”He is more practical than Wang Yang. Instead of getting rid of small and medium-sized enterprises from Guangdong, Hu has adopted a more nurturing approach to moderate economic restructuring.”

[...] As party chief of Inner Mongolia for five years before moving to Guangdong, Hu increased economic growth, almost tripling the autonomous region’s per capita gross domestic product to more than US$10,000.

But Professor Niu Haipeng , of Renmin University, was quoted recently as saying that Hu Chunhua had established a worrying environmental record in the process, with growth achieved at the cost of environmental degradation and public health.

The article also mentions that during the Southern Weekly censorship incident this January, Hu, in order not to clash with his local propaganda comrades, failed to defend Guangdong’s tradition of relative press freedom.

See also “Little Hu” Thrown into the Guangdong Fire, via CDT.

See more on Hu Chunhua via CDT.

© Mengyu Dong for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CCP 6th generation, Guangdong, Hu Chunhua, local officials, officials, press freedom, Southern Weekly, southern weekly protest 2013, Wang Yang
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The Parliament meeting will be an early gauge of the new leaders’ commitment to carrying out broad changes in China’s economy that Messrs. Hu and Wen talked about for years, but did little to accomplish—remaking the economy so it relies more on domestic demand and less on investment in capital-intensive industries at home and demand for Chinese exports abroad.

[...] One major change that Parliament is expected to approve is a plan to streamline the State Council—or cabinet—by, among other things, merging the Railways Ministry into the Ministry of Transport, a move that many analysts believe is linked to a high-speed train crash in 2011, and the dismissal the same year of the railways minister, Liu Zhijun, on corruption charges.

Agencies monitoring food safety—another issue of huge public concern following a string of scandals in recent years—may also be merged, and greater powers given to the State Oceanic Administration, the agency responsible for maritime patrols around disputed islands in the South China Sea and East China Sea, according to Chinese academics familiar with the plans.

Chinese experts say the restructuring is designed to cut down red tape, enhance interdepartmental coordination and break apart vested interests in the bureaucracy. But many analysts are skeptical, arguing that more fundamental changes are needed, such as forcing all officials to declare their financial assets publicly, to enhance government transparency and accountability.

The meetings will also announce key personnel postings, and some insiders are anticipating that more liberal members of the Communist Party elite, including Li Yuanchao and Wang Yang, who were not nominated to the current Politburo Standing Committee, may be named to top government posts, according to the WSJ report. Reuters looks at the factional battles taking place behind the scenes to decide who will take over the Standing Committee in 2017, when five of the current members will retire:

Two main factions are competing for power within the Standing Committee. Members of the “Shanghai Gang”, headed by former Party chief Jiang Zemin, have connections to China’s commercial capital. The other main faction, the “Tuanpai,” is led by outgoing President Hu Jintao. Its members, like him, cultivated their careers in the Communist Youth League.

Most of the Politburo members and provincial Party secretaries eligible for promotion in the next term in 2017 have experience in the Communist Youth League, according to data from “Connected China”(connectedchina.reuters.com), a Reuters site that tracks the careers and connections of China’s top leaders.

Although the Politburo appointed in November shows strong ties to Jiang Zemin, analysts say outgoing President Hu Jintao’s Communist Youth League faction will gain the upper hand over the longer term.

A third group has also ascended rapidly – the princelings, or privileged children of revolutionary leaders. Key princelings include Xi and Politburo Standing Committee members Yu Zhengsheng, Wang Qishan and Zhang Dejiang.

For more on the agenda of the NPC meetings, see, “What to Expect at the 12th National People’s Congress” from CDT.

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Post tags: Communist Youth League, food safety, Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Li Keqiang, Li Yuanchao, NPC 2013, political reform, Wang Yang, Xi Jinping
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Wang has become the poster boy for the reformist camp in the party and a darling of the media. His image as a reformer has endured even as the reputations of both Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao have taken a beating: over the past decade, Hu has shown himself willing to use repression to “maintain social stability”, no matter the damage to society and the political and legal systems, while Wen’s image as a clean and upright politician has suffered after the devastating media reports on his family’s wealth.

There’s no doubt Wang stands out among senior party officials for his quick mind and lack of affectation. He was expressive, and knew how to dress up bureaucratic rhetoric to make it more palatable. He should also be credited for creating some room for debate on reform with his call to “liberate people’s thinking” and his push to strengthen civil society.

But as a member of the Guangdong press, I saw how Wang set back the media during his five-year rule. Freedom of speech is the foundation of all political and democratic reform. From this perspective, we can hardly give his performance a good appraisal.

One of the strikes against Wang, Chang argues, is the appointment during his tenure of Tuo Zhen as provincial propaganda chief. Tuo’s alleged conservatism and inflexibility are said to have taken hold gradually during his thirty-year climb from a start as a “crusading” reporter documenting the plight of the poor. From Teddy Ng at South China Morning Post:

Tuo, 52, started his career as a reporter at the Economic Daily in 1982, and went on to become the newspaper’s chief editor in 2005. In 2011, he was made a vice-president of Xinhua, and he moved to Guangdong in May last year.

He gained early fame for an award-winning story he wrote in 1983 about an engineer who lived in a dilapidated home and worked for a boss who owned four apartments.

Tuo was named one of China’s 10 most outstanding young people in 1993 and was made a senior reporter for the Economic Daily in 1994.

During his time at the newspaper, Tuo was involved in a series of reports on reforms launched in Tongling , Anhui province, when former Guangdong Communist Party chief Wang Yang was the city’s mayor.

He once said the fairness and objectivity of journalists should not be challenged, and the trust bestowed upon journalists by ordinary citizens should be a strong motivation.

By the time he reached Guangdong last year, the transformation appeared complete. At South China Morning Post’s Locustland blog, John Kennedy translated a Weibo post from a purported employee of the Nanfang Media Group, owner of the wayward Nanfang Zhoumo (Southern Weekly, or Southern Weekend) newspaper:

Rumour has it when Tuo arrived in Guangdong, he called up the heads of each newspaper for one-on-one chats, saying the party has entrusted them to hold the line on permitted speech together, that any lost ground will be lost for good.

Then he came out with a series of mortal blows: forbidding Guangdong media from reporting on corruption in other provinces, banning any commentary on negative news in far-off locations, constantly requiring that only the People’s Daily or Xinhua version of news be allowed to run. Southern Weekly in particular has been ordered to get prior approval for every story from the provincial propaganda department, which won’t let each issue go to print until it’s seen all major reports.

This week, Tuo apparently vindicated Chang’s comments by rewriting Southern Weekly’s traditional New Year greeting, without so much as informing the newspaper’s editors. The original article, Dai Zhiyong’s strident call for fulfilling “the dream of constitutionalism in China”, was replaced with anodyne sentiments about how close to fulfilling its dreams China had come. From David Bandurski at China Media Project:

Only if constitutionalism is realized and power effectively checked can citizens voice their criticisms of power loudly and confidently, and only then can every person believe in their hearts that they are free to live their own lives. Only then can we build a truly free and strong nation. . .

According to chatter on Weibo, there were three versions of the letter. The first was the original by Dai Zhiyong, from which the above translation comes. The second was the draft from editors at the newspaper. The third, the version that eventually went to print, contains further changes now being attributed to Tuo Zhen (庹震), Guangdong’s provincial propaganda chief, as well as an introductory message from Tuo Zhen.

[…] The full story here is not yet clear. But it looks as though two egregious violations of propaganda protocol are involved here. First, Tuo Zhen seems to have single-handedly made changes to the second version of the “New Year’s Greeting” after editors responded to his objections to the original. The result is Tuo Zhen’s version three. Second, Tuo Zhen seems to have added his own separate text unilaterally to the paper by penning the “Pursuing Our Dreams” message.

While the original editorial is strongly worded, voicing the hope that China’s Constitution will “cut its teeth” and become the real foundation of freedom in the country, the final version is entirely toothless.

A reference to legendary ruler Yu the Great added insult to injury, suggesting that he tamed disastrous floods not 4,000 but 2,000 years ago. A group of former Southern Weekly journalists expressed their anger in an open letter, accusing Tuo of undermining the central government’s credibility and urging his forced resignation. From a translation at China Media Project:

It is our view that Minister Tuo Zhen’s actions overstep the bounds (越界之举), that they are dictatorial (擅权之举), that they are ignorant and excessive.

It is our view that in this era in which hope is necessary, he is obliterating hope; in this era in which equality is yearned for, his actions are haughty and condescending; in this era of growing open-mindedness, his actions are foolish and careless; in this era that cares for learning and refinement, his actions are crude and thoughtless.

In recent days, the general attitude at home and overseas following the 18th National Congress has been one of optimism over China’s prospects. This optimism is grounded in the outlook and policy direction of the new leadership. That policy direction includes: Unswervingly pushing ahead with reform and opening, persevering in exercising power under the sunlight [i.e., in an open manner], firmly insisting on the basic principles of the Constitution, and resolutely opposing corruption and bureaucratism (官僚主义).

The actions of Minister Tuo Zhen, in Guangzhou and on the very front lines of reform and opening, are entirely contrary to this policy orientation.

By Saturday, South China Morning Post’s Teddy Ng reported, similar letters and statements had come from Southern Weekly’s editorial staff, more than fifty former interns, and Nanjing University’s journalism school. From Keith Richburg at The Washington Post:

Media experts said the demands for Tuo’s ouster set up a challenge that will be difficult for the government to ignore. “There is little room for the two sides to negotiate,” Zhang Lifan, a political commentator, wrote on his weibo account Friday. “The incident will testify to the direction of political reform.”

[…] Asked about the Southern Weekly controversy Friday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said she did not know the specifics of the situation, which she noted did not pertain to foreign affairs. But she added: “In China, no so-called news censorship system exists. The Chinese government protects journalistic freedom according to the law.”

Discussion of the case on Weibo has been suppressed by blocks on relevant search terms already documented at CDT. In addition, some current Southern Weekly staff have seen their Weibo accounts suspended, according to the former employees’ letter. Both central and local authorities have sought to rein in media coverage of the issue: a Central Propaganda Department directive obtained by CDT ordered:

Urgent notice: Upon receipt of this message, controlling departments in all locales must immediately inform all reporters and editors that they may not discuss the Southern Weekend New Year’s greeting on any public platforms. (January 3, 2013)

The Chinese-language Global Times did comment on Thursday, urging cool heads. From a translation at Fei Chang Dao:

The truth be told, many media outlets have had the experience of taking certain opinions from the government on important reports. Having the government provide certain specific instructions on important reports is one device that is woven into the fabric of China’s news management. Overall, China’s reporting is increasingly open, and the general trend is a gradual reduction in the specific instructions from the government, but at the same time, there has been no change in the larger structure of media management.

The Chinese-language editorial was swiftly deleted, but a similar one remains on the English edition’s site:

The reality is that old media regulatory policies cannot go on as they are now. The society is progressing, and the management should evolve. Traditional media is integrating intimately with new media in China, resulting in frequent migration of professionals and different ways for them to pursue their personal interests. All these means the traditional regulation mechanisms no longer fit the new environment

But no matter how the Chinese media is regulated, they will never become the same as their Western counterparts. This should be the basic judgment of Chinese media professionals. China’s political system differs from the West’s, and the media cannot separate itself from a country’s political reality. The only way that fits the development of Chinese media is one that can suit the country’s development path.

While the controversy continued to rage, The Economist’s James Miles commented on its Analects blog on the constitutionalist current to which the original New Year greeting was intended to contribute.

The appeals for the party to respect the constitution’s provisions are part of what appears to be a new tactic by Chinese liberals to push for faster political change. On November 16th, a day after the party’s new leadership was installed, Yanhuang Chunqiu and academics from Peking University jointly organised a meeting in Beijing of around 100 intellectuals as well as a sprinkling of retired officials to discuss the constitution and the importance of upholding it […]. At the meeting a draft was circulated of what was called a “Proposal for a Consensus on Reform”. The thrust of its message was that if only the constitution were to be respected, China would become far more democratic. The document was made public on December 25th, with the names of 72 academics and lawyers attached.

The liberals’ decision to appeal to the constitution is likely to gather wide support among intellectuals, many of whom fear that any more overt challenge to the party could provoke a backlash. A petition for radical political reform issued four years ago resulted in police harassment of many of the thousands of people who signed it, as well as the sentencing of its chief author, Liu Xiaobo, to 11 years in prison. This time the authorities will find it harder to crack down. Thanks to the rapid growth of social media, especially microblogs, in the last couple of years, the liberals’ message is likely to spread.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 18th party congress, Chang Ping, constitution, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, Global Times, Guangdong, Guangdong Model, Liu Xiaobo, media censorship, media conditions, Peking University, political reform, Southern Media Group, Southern Weekly, southern weekly protest 2013, Tuo Zhen, Wang Yang, Xinhua, Yanhuang Chunqiu, Zhang Lifan
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Hu Chunhua has been appointed secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), replacing Wang Yang, the CPC Central Committee announced Tuesday.

Wang Jun will replace Hu as secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Committee of the CPC, according to the announcement.

Hu, born in April 1963, is currently a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. Wang Yang is also a Political Bureau member.

Hu previously served as deputy secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Committee of the CPC, first secretary of the Secretariat of the Communist Youth League of China Central Committee and governor of north China’s Hebei Province.

At the South China Morning Post, Mimi Lau described a range of views on Hu’s appointment and prospects:

Liu Kaiming, director of the Institute of Contemporary Observation, a labour rights NGO in Shenzhen, said Hu lacked the track record of outstanding political achievements necessary to impress Guangdong officials.

“After spending extensive time in remote inland areas, Hu might find it hard to fit in at first in Guangdong, especially when dealing with vested interests,” Liu said. “I’m not very sure about officials from remote regions because they often appear very conservative and arrogant, but Hu might be different because he’s young.”

[…] Dr Peng Peng, a researcher with the Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences, said Hu would have to hunker down after arriving in Guangdong because it was unlike any other mainland region.

“The press here is outspoken and the public can often complain directly to leaders,” Peng said. “In order to do a good job in Guangdong, Hu needs to be even more open-minded than Wang Yang.

“Wang Yang laid a solid foundation. Hu is much younger than Wang. I’m guessing Hu is more likely to flow with the open atmosphere in Guangdong.”

But at The Diplomat, David Cohen sounded a cautious note on the prospects for bold reform:

A Guangdong posting will give “Little Hu” a chance to burnish his reformist credentials, like Wang Yang before him. If Xi follows through on his talk of reform, that may prove to be a valuable skill. Guangdong is China’s most liberal province and frequently given to experimentation — if Xi is looking for models for national reform the leader of Guangdong may get some chances to influence the direction of national policy with some inventive provincial initiatives, such as Wang Yang’s much-ballyhooed “Wukan model.”

This trend should also give us some pause before rooting for Wang or Hu as reformers — neither of their records shows particularly bold action before traveling to Guangdong, so to some extent Wang’s liberal policies in the southern province may simply reflect institutional momentum. In fact, besides his time in Tibet, Little Hu initiated a harsh crackdown at the first signs of protests in Inner Mongolia in the spring of 2011. Some felt Hu had overreacted but he did not shirk from his decision, recently telling the Financial Times, “When we deal with mass incidents, there is no question we will take compulsory measures . . . We will be tough when we need to be tough, and we will be soft when we need to be soft.”

Reuters’ Sui-Lee Wee outlined Hu’s earlier career:

In Inner Mongolia, Hu Chunhua, also known as “Little Hu”, has been referred to as a future president. While there, Hu Chunhua oversaw rapid economic growth and dealt successfully with protests last year by ethnic Mongols.

Hu Chunhua came to Inner Mongolia following a brief stint in Hebei, the arid province which surrounds Beijing, where he was rapidly moved after a scandal over tainted milk in which at least six children died and thousands became ill.

Hu Chunhua remains something of an enigma, even in China. He has given few clues about his deeper policy beliefs. One of the best known things about him is that he does not appear to dye his hair jet black like many politicians.

In meetings with the public, Hu Chunhua comes across as low key and self effacing, in line with an image of a loyal, humble Communist Party member. People who have met him describe him as relaxed, easy-going and spontaneous, unlike stiffer party leaders.

Hu and newly appointed Chongqing Party chief Sun Zhengcai were both elevated to the Politburo last month, and are likely to rise further to the Politburo Standing Committee in 2017 and the presidency and premiership in 2022. (See Cheng Li’s profiles of the two men at the Brookings Institution.) None of this can be taken for granted, however: neither of their predecessors, Wang Yang and Bo Xilai, has followed the trajectory widely anticipated even at the start of this year. The Associated Press’ Didi Tang focused on Wang Yang, Guangdong’s previous Party chief, whose next assignment has not yet been revealed:

Xinhua gave no indication of Wang’s next job, but China watchers said he is likely to be named a vice premier when China’s legislature meets in the spring.

Wang, 57, is seen as a politically liberal figure. He failed to win a seat on the party’s ruling seven-member Standing Committee when new leaders were installed last month but was named to the lower-ranking Politburo.

[…] Wang was seen at Xi’s side when the general secretary visited Guangdong in early December. Li Cheng, an expert on China’s elite politics at Washington-based think tank Brookings Institute, said the appearance of the two together was to show the solidarity of the party leadership, because Wang is not considered to be in Xi’s camp in China’s factional politics.

“It’s a symbol of unity,” Li said.

Hu’s replacement in Inner Mongolia, Wang Jun, has extensive experience related to the autonomous region’s heavy mining industry. Wang was appointed governor of coal-rich Shanxi province following an accident which claimed more than 270 lives at an iron mine in 2008, and had previously headed the national work safety agency. His acting replacement in Shanxi is Li Xiaopeng, son of former premier Li Peng. New Party chiefs for Zhejiang, Shaanxi and Jilin were also announced on Tuesday, with appointments for Fujian and Guangxi following the next day. The blizzard of new posts sent a “subtle message”, according to a Global Times editorial, which hailed the new provincial leaders as offering the public a fresh start.

The Party secretary is the very top leader in a province. The prominence of this position differs from Western systems and is the key to ensuring that the Party rules the country’s political system.

[…] The population and economic scale of many provinces exceed those of middle-sized countries. As China is undergoing rapid development and social conflicts, the difficulties in managing a province can be much greater than managing a global power.

[…] Party secretaries should make efforts to improve communication with the public. We are looking forward to those who are outspoken and can interact with the public.

A new political style has been showcased by the Party’s top leadership. These new provincial leaders are expected to emulate it in solving local problems.

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bo Xilai, Chongqing, Communist Youth League, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, hebei, Hu Chunhua, Hu Jintao, Inner Mongolia, jilin, Politburo, Politburo Standing Committee, Shaanxi, Shanxi, tainted food, Tibet, Wang Yang, Wukan, Xi Jinping, Zhejiang
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The party held a meeting of leading cadres in Beijing in May and “democratically recommended” members of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee and the 25-seat Politburo, state news agency Xinhua said late on Thursday, hours after new line-ups for both councils were unveiled.

[...] Xinhua said the cadres took into consideration the “party spirit” of candidates, jargon for their loyalty to the party.

They also took into account whether the candidates were “just and honest”, their abilities and integrity, their age as well as portfolios. Politicians 68 or older are not qualified to join the Standing Committee.

The “democratic recommendation” process involved informal discussions while the views of unspecified people were fully solicited, Xinhua said. It did not elaborate.

Now, Reuters is reporting that in the course of the straw poll, Party elders including Jiang Zemin and Li Peng effectively ruled out the advancement of Wang and Liu:

Two sources said the influential retirees flexed their muscles in landmark informal polls taken before last week’s 18th party congress, where the seven–member standing committee, the apex of China’s power structure, was unveiled.

The clout of the elder statesmen, who include former party chief Jiang Zemin and ex-parliament head Li Peng, underscores the obstacles to even limited reform within senior levels of the party, which has held continuous power since 1949.

The informal polls are the first time the party has flirted with “intra-party democracy” to settle factional fighting over the line-up of the standing committee. It held informal polls in 2007 to decide the larger Politburo.

The report also explains that Wang Yang was left off the Standing Committee after the fall of former Chongqing Party chief Bo Xilai in order to avoid further antagonizing Bo’s supporters:

The two sources said party seniors decided to drop Wang, who has favored private enterprise in Guangdong and was seen as a rival of Bo, to avoid further upsetting pro-Mao factions in the party, government and military.

“Wang Yang was ousted to avoid Bo supporters creating trouble,” one of the two sources said.

Yet it is not clear how the poll was held or if this will become a standard method to choose new leadership within the Party. Some journalists remain skeptical:

Would like to see evidence of CPC voting. “Informal straw-polling” means asking people for their opinions.

— Edward Wong (@comradewong) November 21, 2012

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Post tags: Bo Xilai, intra-Party democracy, Jiang Zemin, leadership transition, Li Peng, Li Yuanchao, Politburo Standing Committee, Wang Yang
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Yan Jingjing, daughter of PLA Song and Dance Troupe singer Yan Weiwen, is unsearchable on Sina Weibo.

Pinyin Spelling of Leaders’ Names:
- [Zhang] dejiang: Member of the newly elected Politburo Standing Committee (PSC).
- [Zhang] gaoli: New PSC member.
- jiaqinglin: One of the outgoing PSC members.
- [Xi] jinping: Incoming CCP president. Re-tested.
- [Li] keqiang: Incoming CCP prime minister.
- [Wang] qishan ([王] 岐山): New PSC member.
- wangyang (汪洋): Party Secretary of Guangdong Province. Wang’s absence from the new PSC troubles those who hope for reform in China’s new leadership.
- [Liu] yunshan ([刘] 云山): New PSC member.
- [Yu] zhengsheng ([俞] 正声): New PSC member.

Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan:
- XiJP (习JP): Xi Jinping
- Secretary Xi (习书记)
- Crown Prince/Emperor Xi (习皇（储/帝）)
- Xi Cannot-Comment (习禁评): re-tested
- Chairman Xi (习主席): re-tested
- Lady Xi (习夫人): Refers to Peng Liyuan.
- Lady Peng (彭夫人)
- Her Majesty the Empress (皇后娘娘)
- First Lady (第一夫人)
- Mother of the Nation (国母): re-tested

Other Post-18th-Party-Congress Terms:
- Seven Chiefs (七巨头): Refers to the seven new members of the PSC.
- Prime Minister Li (李总理): Li Keqiang
- Kim Il-sung + university (金日成+大学): Official documents reveal that PSC member Zhang Dejiang graduated with a degree in economics from North Korea’s Kim Il-sung University.
- join the PSC (入常): re-tested
- Liu Yongqing (刘永清): Hu Jintao’s wife.
- Prime Minister Wen (温总理): Wen Jiabao
- Bo Wen (薄温): Refers to Bo Xilai and Wen Jiabao.
- Yan Jingjing (阎晶晶): Yan Weiwen’s daughter, who is also Li Zhaoxing’s daughter-in-law. Yan Weiwen is a tenor in the People’s Liberation Army General Political Department Song and Dance Troupe. Li Zhaoxing served as ambassador to the U.S. from 1998 to 2001, and as a PSC member and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2007.
- Li Hehe (李禾禾): Li Zhaoxing’s son. Re-tested.

Note: All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

CDT Chinese runs a project that crowd-sources filtered keywords on Sina Weibo search.  CDT independently tests the keywords before posting them, but some searches later become accessible again. We welcome readers to contribute to this project so that we can include the most up-to-date information. To add words, check out the form at the bottom of CDT Chinese’s latest sensitive words post.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Bo Xilai, censorship, Hu Jintao, Internet censorship, Jia Qinglin, Li Hehe, Li Keqiang, li zhaoxing, Liu Yongqing, Liu Yunshan, Peng Liyuan, People's Liberation Army, Politburo Standing Committee, Sensitive Words Series, sina weibo, Wang Qishan, Wang Yang, weibo, Wen Jiabao, Xi Jinping, Yan Jingjing, Yan Weiwen, Yu Zhengsheng, zhang dejiang, Zhang Gaoli
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Despite scenes of Hu Jintao and other outgoing leaders casting their ballots for the CCP Central Committee, it’s hard to convince Chinese netizens that these were free and fair Party elections. Weibo chatter about internal wrangling and even brawling drew enough of a crowd for Sina to filter search results for related terms. This cartoon exudes the air of Mad Men. For all the promises of greater transparency, this past week is shrouded in fog.

Artist: Mengchenshang
Source: SneezeBloid

521 female delegates attended the congress, two with infants in tow. Women have come a long way in China, from cutting their hair and leaving home in the early 20th century, to marching alongside their male comrades as Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. But the cadre weeping with joy for her Party as she votes “yes” with one arm and holds her child in another may not have been the future her forebears imagined.

Artist: Asahi Shimbun
Source: SneezeBloid

The Beijing bureau of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun has a reputation for “acting cute” on Weibo. The mysterious staffer with the witty ballpoint pen lets netizens know how the paper views the hammer and sickle: mightier than homes, cars, money, and even happiness.

Artist: Wu Junyong
Souce: Weibo

“There’s no suspense” (没有悬念) about the identity of the person whose veil is about to be lifted. Those hopeful that political change would follow greater economic openness were disappointed by the new Politburo Standing Committee. And while Xi may offer some hope for reform, the exclusion of Wang Yang and Li Yuanchao sent the signal to expect more of the same from China’s new leaders.

Artist: Torval Lokison
Source: Beijing Cream

Lokison’s expat-oriented comic speaks for itself.

Read more about the leadership transition from CDT.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 18th party congress, Asahi Shimbun, CCP Central Committee, Cultural Revolution, Drawing the News, Hu Jintao, leadership transition, Li Yuanchao, netizens, Politburo Standing Committee, political cartoons, political humor, Red Guards, Wang Yang, weibo, Xi Jinping
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Xi Jinping was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee at the first plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee on Thursday morning.

Other members of the newly elected Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee are Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan, and Zhang Gaoli.

Xinhua’s announcements unexpectedly preceded the standing committee’s live unveiling at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, at which Xi began his address by apologising for the delay. From Malcolm Moore at The Telegraph:

Welcoming his six “comrades” onto the stage, Mr Xi said China’s new leaders would battle to improve people’s lives and not to lose touch with the population. China’s new leaders faced “severe” challenges, he admitted, including a difficult fight against rampant corruption.

“Ours is a political party that serves the people wholeheartedly. We have every reason to be proud,” he said. “Proud but not complacent. We will never rest on our laurels.”

“Our responsibility is weightier than Mount Tai,” China’s incoming leader added, referring to the giant mountain in China’s Shandong province. “The journey ahead is long and arduous.”

For more of Xi’s speech, see Xinhua’s translation at Global Times.

Bloomberg has posted a ‘Who’s Who’ guide to all the new top leaders, while a Reuters infographic shows their place in China’s broader power structure. Notably absent from the list were Wang Yang and Li Yuanchao, whose inclusion might have signalled a more reformist inclination. Jeremy Page discussed Wang and Li’s prospects prior to the announcement at The Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Li, who studied briefly at Harvard’s Kennedy School in 2002, has overseen pilots schemes to enhance democracy within the party. According to a U.S. diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, Mr. Li told U.S. diplomats in 2007 that China could hold competitive elections for the Politburo and its Standing Committee in 20 to 30 years.

Mr. Wang has eased restrictions on nongovernmental organizations and he won plaudits last year for reaching a negotiated settlement, rather than using force, when a village in Guangdong rebelled against party rule over a land grab by local officials.

Mr. Li is thought to stand more of a chance than Mr. Wang, but if neither make it, it would be seen as a blow to those inside and outside China hoping that the party will expand even limited experiments to encourage greater democracy within its own ranks.

“If neither Li or Wang enter the Standing Committee, that would really show Hu’s weakness,” said a Chinese academic with close party contacts [….]

Xi was also named chairman of the Central Military Commission, ending speculation over whether Hu Jintao would hold on to the post for up to two more years, as his predecessors have done. The Financial Times’ Richard McGregor, author of The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers, summed up the combined implications:

@xhnews Terrible result for HJT. Shunted out unceremoniously and fails to get his allies promoted. Ignominious end fo rhim.

— Richard McGregor (@mcgregorrichard) November 15, 2012

McClatchy’s Tom Lasseter elaborated on the perceived factional divide within the new standing committee:

More than ideological lines, the committee introduced on Thursday seemed to be drawn along factional ties – specifically, an apparent victory for those close to former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin over the outgoing president and party secretary, Hu Jintao. The 86-year-old Jiang was last year rumored to have died or fallen into a vegetative state, but he recently made a series of public appearances that some speculated were a signal that he is still in the political game.

Xi Jinping himself was thought to be Jiang’s pick, versus Li Keqiang, who is closely affiliated with the same Communist Youth League that formed a power base for 69-year-old Hu.

Of the seven on the list, only Li and Liu Yunshan, a 65-year-old who’d been heading the party’s propaganda department, are viewed as being strongly allied with Hu.

Jiang was seen as having supported Xi and the other four committee members named on Thursday: 66-year-old Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang, 67-year-old Shanghai party chief Yu Zhengsheng, 66-year-old Tianjin party chief Zhang Gaoli and 64-year-old Vice Premier Wang Qishan.

But the longer-term picture for Hu’s legacy may be somewhat brighter. From Mark MacKinnon at The Globe and Mail:

A key caveat to Mr. Jiang’s apparent tour de force is the age of his allies who were promoted Thursday: all the new Standing Committee members – except Mr. Xi and Mr. Li – are 64 years or older, meaning all are slated to retire in 2017, clearing the field for Mr. Hu’s younger allies to rise to the Standing Committee ahead of the next major power transfer in 2022, when Mr. Xi and Mr. Li are due to step aside.

[…] The signals from the week-long Communist Party congress were decidedly mixed. Delegates ended the meeting with a solemn singing of the socialist anthem, The Internationale. Then they filed out of the Great Hall of the People, to a waiting fleet of chauffeured Audis.

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Post tags: 18th party congress, CCP, Communist Youth League, Great Hall of the People, Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, leadership transition, Li Keqiang, Li Yuanchao, Liu Yunshan, Politburo, Politburo Standing Committee, Wang Qishan, Wang Yang, Xi Jinping, Yu Zhengsheng, zhang dejiang, Zhang Gaoli
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With China at a critical juncture, there is a rising chorus within the elite expressing doubt that the 91-year-old Communist Party’s authoritarian system can deal with the stresses bearing down on the nation and its 1.3 billion people. Policies introduced after 1978 by Deng Xiaoping lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty and transformed the country into the world’s second-largest economy. But the way party leaders have managed decades of growth has created towering problems that critics say can no longer be avoided.

Many of those critics have benefited from China’s stunning economic gains, and their ranks include billionaires, intellectuals and children of the party’s revolutionary founders. But they say the party’s agenda, as it stands today, is not visionary enough to set China on the path to stability. What is needed, they say, is a comprehensive strategy to gradually extricate the Communist Party, which has more than 80 million members, from its heavy-handed control of the economy, the courts, the news media, the military, educational institutions, civic life and just the plain day-to-day affairs of citizens.

Only then, the critics argue, can the government start to address the array of issues facing China, including rampant corruption, environmental degradation, and an aging population whose demographics have been skewed because of the one-child policy.

“In order to build a real market economy, we have to have real political reform,” said Yang Jisheng, a veteran journalist and a leading historian of the Mao era. “In the next years, we should have a constitutional democracy plus a market economy.”

Reuters, meanwhile, looks at the political prospects for would-be reformers, including Wang Yang, in the Party leadership:

When Wang spoke to reporters on Friday, he stuck to a well rehearsed script that could have come from any apparatchik.

“Because China has taken the strategic choice of reform and opening up, every member of the Chinese Communist Party, including myself, is a reformist – or else there would be no today,” he told reporters.

“We will follow the themes of the 18th party congress to push for reform,” he said. “As for the next steps for reform, General Secretary Hu Jintao has already clearly stated those, so I won’t recite the report for you.”

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Post tags: 18th party congress, political reform, Wang Yang, Xi Jinping
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“Leading officials at all levels, especially high-ranking officials, must readily observe the code of conduct on clean governance and report all important matters,” Hu said in a keynote speech at the opening of the CPC’s 18th National Congress.

“They should both exercise strict self-discipline and strengthen education and supervision over their families and their staff; and they should never seek any privilege,” Hu said.

However, Hu offered no specifics about how the Party could carry out such reforms. Forcing officials to declare their assets is one potential method. Two up and coming officials, Guangdong’s Wang Yang and Shanghai’s Yu Zhengsheng, both of whom are vying for a position on the powerful Politburo Standing Committee, told foreign journalists at the Party Congress that they are open to the idea. From Reuters:

The comments by Wang Yang, party boss of Guangdong province, and Yu Zhengsheng, Shanghai’s Communist chief, come at a time of heightened sensitivity about the wealth of China’s top leaders on the eve of a once-a-decade leadership transition.

[...]

Official ostentation has become a hot-button issue on the Chinese Internet. One official was recently sacked and put under investigation after web surfers compiled pictures of him wearing several different luxury watches.

Wang said Guangdong was “exploring” ways to compel officials of the fast-developing province to declare their assets.

“I believe that we Chinese officials will make public our assets step by step in line with central provisions,” said Wang, who some political observers believe is a contender for a spot in the elite Politburo Standing Committee next week.

AP explains why Wang Yang’s views may carry some weight:

Wang’s views matter. An ally of Hu’s from their days 30 years ago in the Communist Youth League, Wang has gone on to forge credentials as a reformer. In Guangdong, he has tried to guide the economy away from labor-intensive assembly-line processing and enacted more tolerant rules for environmental and other local activist groups that the party has mostly tried to suppress.

Wang has been considered a candidate for the new leadership, the Politburo Standing Committee, though party-connected scholars say his policies and popularity have brought a pushback from conservatives, diminishing his chances.

“All party members are reformers,” Wang told reporters Friday, brushing off a question about his prospects. “The report clearly states the goal of the party congress is to liberate thoughts, reform and open up, rally efforts and overcome obstacles. This will not change.”

On corruption, however, the party has been in need of new thinking. The party, which controls courts, police and prosecutors, has proved feeble in policing itself yet does not want to undermine its control by empowering an independent body to do so. Some officials have been required to report income, real estate holdings and other wealth to their superiors since 2010, but the measure has done little to staunch the graft.

See also a Bloomberg investigation into the assets of the family of Xi Jinping, China’s incoming president, and a New York Times investigation into the family wealth of Premier Wen Jiabao (via CDT). Read more about high-level corruption in China.

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It’s remarkable that so little is known about what will actually happen during the upcoming conclave. A Service Guide for Journalists notes helpfully that Western-style snacks will be served in the Press Center but there is no real detail about actual events. As of Monday afternoon, an online guide to the upcoming Party Congress had listed only two events directly related to the Communist gathering: a cocktail party for journalists on Nov. 6 and a press conference the day after. Like most press conferences in China, it’s certain Wednesday’s event will be a scripted one in which random journalists won’t be allowed to fling questions at the 18th Party Congress’ spokesperson.

Even the date when the Congress will end is not clear, although many people suspect it will be Nov. 15. “We have no detailed information of the schedule of the 18th Party Congress,” Yue Xiaosong, an official at the 18th Party Congress Press Center, told TIME on Monday. “I don’t know the date when the Congress will finish.” Yue’s only suggestion to TIME was that we should look at previous Party Congress schedules as a general guideline. But he quickly cautioned that we shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from the past. “It will depend on how well the 18th Party Congress goes,” he said, when pressed on just when the confab will end. No details were provided on what he meant by the meeting going “well.” A TIME colleague suggests the wording on the cap in the press swag bag should be changed to: “Somebody I know went to the 18th Party Congress, and all I got was this stupid hat.”

Despite the heightened restrictions in Beijing, The South China Morning Post’s Keith Zhai notes that ordinary mainlanders are “gripped by an overwhelming sense of apathy” and feel little connection to politics. The Telegraph’s Malcolm Moore reports that in contrast with American voters, the Chinese public “remains utterly cut off from the political process,” and those that do care are left to sift through official speeches and state media coverage for hints of what will happen and who will comprise the Politburo Standing Committee:

Indeed, while we know that the leadership change will happen at the 18th Party Congress, which opens on Thursday, we do not know exactly when the new leaders will be unveiled or when the congress will end. Those in China cannot even search for the phrase “18th party congress” on the internet: it has been removed by the censors.

All we can be sure of is that, at some point in the near future, a group of men – and they are all likely to be men – will walk on to a dais in the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square. These will be the seven members of the politburo standing committee, the Chinese equivalent of the Cabinet, selected (by an essentially mysterious process) from among the 25 politburo members originally elected by the party’s 300-strong central committee.

The lack of any real information, however, hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from churning about last-minute horse trading at the top of the party. Sources have told Reuters that ten finalists are vying for seven seats on the Standing Committee, and The New York Times reports that China’s “beleaguered liberals” have their fingers crossed in hope that the reform-minded Guangdong party chief Wang Yang is one of them. Cheng Li of the Brookings Institution provides more details on the “tussle” taking place between the “populist” and “princeling” factions, and what it might mean for regime stability going forward.

Peter Ford of the Christian Science Monitor, meanwhile, spoke to several China analysts who think that closed-door power-broking may give way to a succession protocol based more on consensus under future leadership transitions. Reuters echoed that sentiment in a Tuesday article as well, and went even further, quoting sources who hinted that the Communist Party may not wait until the next generation to adopt a more democratic process for choosing its leadership:

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.

Orville Schell writes that the incoming generation of Chinese leaders will not have the rubber stamp of legitimacy that Deng Xiaoping bestowed on Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, nor the mandate typically provided by democratic elections. Instead, he says China “finds itself floating terrifyingly in a gravity-less political world” that continues to spin. From the Asia Society’s China File:

The problem is compounded by the fact that, having relieved through its own reform process of the kind of Big Leader rule which allowed megalomaniacal visions to so often wreak havoc on the country—paradoxically just as the West tirelessly challenged it to—China now finds itself without precisely that kind of bold decision-making power at the top that characterized Deng Xiaoping’s quite extraordinary tenure (June 1989 not withstanding) and enabled him to be such a bold reformer.

With no entitled big leader, no confirmed political system capable of conferring legitimacy on new leaders, and no set plan for the future, China nonetheless still finds itself forced somehow to choose a new leadership team. This has left “the people,” who have no real role to play in this process, feeling quite shut out and nervous about what the future holds for them.

Although it is impossible to know what is actually going inside the black box where China’s leaders wrangle over their future, people hear that the process has been intense, even acrimonious. And, since they do not even know what each leader or faction actually stands for, a climate of uncertainty and anxiety has been increasing. Such feelings are hardly surprising, for here in China everything is veiled, hidden, and opaque. And yet, this whole amazingly dynamic proposition continues to hurtle down the tracks, just as I am doing now, even as everyone knows that somewhere ahead, the tracks end. Nobody, especially the present leadership, seems to quite know how to resolve this crisis in confidence, how to pick those who will follow them and write the script for the next act that will set China’s future course.

The information vacuum also hasn’t stopped the Chinese press from saturating the newspapers and airwaves with stories about the congress. Danwei’s Barry van Wyk surveyed the front pages on Monday and found predictable yet “utterly uniform” coverage, though some papers broke ranks to report on Bo Xilai’s expulsion from the CCP and other news. Elsewhere, David Bandurski of The China Media Project has made “fruitless” searches for “18th Party Congress” within the realms of Chinese social media. Today, he highlighted a post on Sina Weibo which speculated about the lineup of the congress and was deleted by censors.

Reform remains the key buzzword in the press as the opening of the congress draws closer, but McClatchy Newspapers’ Tom Lasseter spoke to several academics who suggested that the West should temper its expectations of major political changes. The biggest policy developments, they say, will likely come in the economic arena. Caixin has published a list of 18 recommended economic reforms that the incoming leadership should pursue, a list that includes SOE reforms, environmental protection and tax cuts among other more ambitious requests such as downsizing the government itself.

Finally, beneath the pomp and circumstance that is sure to blanket the congress, The Guardian’s Tania Branigan reminds readers that the Communist Party does have a bit of governing to do as well:

The Chinese leadership “knows the legitimacy of the party now depends on performance, in terms of delivering services and improvements in living standards”, said Steve Tsang, an expert on Chinese politics at the University of Nottingham.

The result is what he calls “a consultative Leninist system … They want to know what people think so they can take away the causes of discontent and potential challenges to the party. That’s not the same as the accountability we would talk about and expect in Europe or North America; it’s more of a safety valve and has an element of [the Maoist injunction] ‘from the masses, to the masses’.”

See also a Reuters’ primer on the congress, which details the likely agenda and ponders potential new policy initiatives that the delegates may introduce, and previous CDT coverage of the 18th Party Congress.

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Post tags: 18th party congress, Beijing, Bo Xilai, CCP 5th generation, censorship, Deng Xiaoping, economic reform, Great Hall of the People, Jiang Zemin, leadership transition, legitimacy, Politburo Standing Committee, political reform, princelings, sina weibo, Wang Yang
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They said former President Jiang Zemin, current President Hu Jintao and Hu’s likely successor, Xi Jinping, have forged a consensus on candidates for the top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee – a move that could pave the way for a smooth selection process after months of political tumult.

Their list – still subject to opposition and change by other party elders – envisages a Standing Committee cut to seven from nine and headed by Xi and Premier-designate Li Keqiang, 57, who is considered the only other certainty to make the top team.

A smaller committee would make it easier for Xi, 59, to establish his authority and push through badly needed reforms, the sources said. They noted that the preferred list would include Vice Premier Wang Qishan, 64, a darling of foreign investors who currently runs the finance portfolio.

However, the ticket omits one of the party’s most outspoken political reformers, Wang Yang, 57, party boss of southern Guangdong province. A contender, he is viewed by many in the West as a beacon of political reform due to his relative tolerance of freer speech and grassroots civil rights.

Read more about the 5th generation of Party leaders and the 18th Party Congress, via CDT.

Updated at 21:20 PST: The New York Times’ Keith Bradsher reports that Wang Qishan may land in a nominally superior but less powerful role than the executive vice premiership for which he has previously been tipped:

While the responsibilities of China’s new leadership team have not yet been finalized — and are not expected to be announced until the end of the Party Congress — the emerging consensus is that Mr. Wang is likely to be promoted to a position on the Standing Committee of the Politburo, China’s top decision-making body, but not to have day-to-day control of the bureaucracy that oversees China’s still largely state-driven economy.

Insiders say they now expect that economic policy will be left mostly in the hands of Li Keqiang, who is set to replace Wen Jiabao as prime minister next year. Mr. Li, 57, is a highly educated official with an almost professorial style who is said to read voluminous economic policy reports in often minute detail.

[…] One [insider] said that there had been a push in late summer by some party elders for Mr. Wang to be named prime minister instead of Mr. Li. But that push appears not only to have fallen short but possibly backfired by hurting relations between them, the insider said.

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“We have not had any official notice,” said Hou Fanfan, a doctor in Guangzhou, while Li Xiaoying, a professor from Tianjin, said: “We don’t know, sorry”.

Wang Zhixia, the Communist party committee secretary of a driving school in Jilin province, said there had been “no notice whatsoever” and that he was waiting for the provincial government to organise travel to Beijing.

“It is doubly ironic that they are being so secretive about it when the Organisation department (the powerful internal Communist Party HR arm) held a press conference to tell everyone about how they have been especially transparent in selecting the delegates this year,” said Dali Yang, the founding Faculty Director of the University of Chicago Centre in Beijing.

Over the past three decades, the Communist party has usually given at least a month’s notice for the five-yearly Congress.

Analysts have speculated that the delay in confirming the timing for the congress, the details of which are typically finalized during the August gathering of top leaders at the seaside resort of Beidaihe, indicates factional jockeying at the top of the Party. A resolution of the case against disgraced former Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai has also held up any progress on the congress. The Party’s silence over the timing of the congress is deafening, according to The South China Morning Post:

Alice Miller, a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, said that going on past procedures, a Politburo meeting, probably late last month, should have set a date for the 17th Central Committee’s seventh plenum and proposed a date for the 18th congress.

A Politburo meeting held on September 17, 2007, made the decision to convene the pre-congress seventh plenum of the 16th Central Committee on October 9 in order for matters relating to the 17th party congress, which opened on October 15, to be finalised.

…

Hu Xingdou, a political commentator from the Beijing Institute of Technology, said the party should make its congress more transparent and announce its date as early as possible to prevent wild speculation. “The earlier the announcement [of the date] is made, the better for the party and the country,” said Hu.

Even with the date unknown, Jamestown Foundation fellow Willy Lam has made his prediction of who will secure seats on the revamped Politburo Standing Committee:

A consensus has been reached by the outgoing Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) that the size of this highest ruling council should be cut from nine to seven members. Barring any last minute changes, the new PBSC is expected to consist of the following (and their prospective portfolios): Xi, age 59 (General Secretary and President); Li Keqiang, age 57 (Premier); Yu Zhengsheng, age 67 (Chairman of the National People’s Congress); Zhang Dejiang, age 65 (Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference); Li Yuanchao, age 61 (Head of the Party Secretariat and Vice President); Wang Qishan, age 64 (Executive Vice Premier); and Wang Yang, age 57 (Secretary of the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection [CCDI]). The seven-member configuration is an effort by the leadership to return to the norm. Since the Cultural Revolution, the PBSC had consisted of either five or seven members. It was only increased to nine members at the 16th CCP Congress a decade ago. A seven-member PBSC in theory will make decision making more efficient (Apple Daily [Hong Kong] September 10; Ming Pao [Hong Kong], September 3).

Whoever does take over the reins of China’s top ruling bodies, they will face a number of social, economic and foreign policy challenges, and the Brookings Institution hosted a discussion last week to analyze the major issues.

See also previous CDT coverage of the incoming generation of CCP leaders.

© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 18th party congress, Bo Xilai, CCP, CCP 5th generation, leadership transition, Li Keqiang, Li Yuanchao, Politburo Standing Committee, Wang Qishan, Wang Yang, Xi Jinping, Yu Zhengsheng, zhang dejiang
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“We still haven’t got our land back,” shouted Liu Hancai, a retired 62-year-old party member, one of many villagers fighting to win back land that was seized by Wukan’s previous administration and illegally sold off for development.

The small crowd, many on motorbikes, was kept under tight surveillance by plain-clothed officials fearful of any broader unrest breaking out. Police cars were patrolling the streets.

“There would be more people here, but many people are afraid of trouble and won’t come out,” Liu told Reuters.

…

Friday’s demonstration was far less heated than the protests that earned Wukan headlines around the world last September. But the small rally reveals how early optimism over the ground-breaking adoption of local-level democracy has soured for some.

The Financial Times reports that while some villagers have argued for more patience, others prefer action:

Cai Yifeng, a local restaurant owner, says the problem is that the Lufeng city government, which oversees Wukan, has not changed its ways. He says several of its officials are allied with Xue Chang, the former Wukan party chief. Xue was fined and disciplined this year for his role in the illegal land sales but not arrested, which village leaders say has emboldened his supporters.

“The Lufeng government tells lies to the committee,” Cai said. “The dissatisfaction among the villagers will only continue to rise.”

Meanwhile, the South China Morning Post reports that Guangdong party chief Wang Yang, who earned praise for his progressive handling of the Wukan incident, has made a fresh call for reform as he continues to maneuver for a seat on the next Politburo Standing Committee. But while The New York Times’ Didi Kirsten Tatlow writes that Wang has positioned himself well as a reformer, The South China Morning Post’s Mimi Lau asks whether the party is ready for him:

Analysts believe promotion to chief of the central disciplinary inspection commission or party boss of Beijing would be logical next steps for Wang. But whether he can make it to the Standing Committee this time is uncertain.

The reported decision to cut the all-powerful panel to seven from nine seats means competition for spots will be all the more fierce.

At the moment, some observers believe Tianjin party secretary Zhang Gaoli, a Jiang Zemin ally, has the edge over Wang.

Also working against Wang is his relatively young age. At 57, If he was appointed to the Standing Committee this year, he could theoretically stay on until 2027 – an usually long period at the height of power.

“If [the Standing Committee] stays at nine, I would bet on him making it,” said Steve Tsang, of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham. Otherwise, Wang’s chances of ascension were 50-50, Tsang said.

© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CCP 5th generation, democracy, Guangdong, land grab protests, land grabs, leadership transition, Politburo Standing Committee, village elections, Wang Yang, Wukan
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Wang Lijun, former right-hand man to the “King of Mountain City,” i.e. Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai, ran to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu this February, exposing the Chinese Communist Party’s biggest public scandal in decades.

Toxins in baby formula, counterfeit pharmaceuticals and other food and drug safety issues are nothing new in China.

Rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng escaped from his illegal house arrest in April, making his way to the U.S. embassy in Beijing and eventually New York.

Villagers in the Wukan staged a revolt last December, driving local officials out and barricading themselves from the authorities. Guangdong Party Secretary Wang Yang dialogued with the villagers, leading to a peaceful end to the siege and local elections.

In July, residents of Shifang, Sichuan Province successfully protested the construction of a copper molybdenum power plant.

This could be a reference to the spate of Tibetan self-immolations in protest against Chinese rule. After two self-immolations in Lhasa this May, foreigners were briefly barred from visiting Tibet and security was tightened.

Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Josh Rudolph.

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Post tags: Bo Xilai, censorship, Chen Guangcheng, Chengdu, Chongqing, Cross-Talk Comics, drug safety, environmental protests, food safety, Guangdong, lhasa, local elections, Mountain City, politcal humor, political cartoons, protests, rights lawyers, self-immolations, Shifang, Sichuan, Tibet, Wang Lijun, Wang Yang, Wukan
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