Vice President Of China Steps Down

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The New York Sun

BEIJING — Three top Chinese Communist Party officials including Vice President Zeng Qinghong stepped down, clearing the way for President Hu to install younger leaders on China’s ruling council. Mr. Zeng, 68, wasn’t included in a list of the party’s 200-plus Central Committee, according to the official Xinhua News Agency, meaning he can’t be chosen for its ruling Politburo Standing Committee. Two other members of that group, Wu Guanzheng and Luo Gan, also weren’t on the list. Mr. Hu, 64, is reshuffling his team to tackle social unrest caused by corruption and pollution in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. While his predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Deng Xiaoping, opened up the country and powered growth, Mr. Hu has stressed creating a “harmonious society” to spread the benefits and maintain public support.

“Zeng’s retirement is a victory for Hu, meaning he can push harder for implementation of his agenda,” Albert Louie, the managing director of a Beijing-based risk management company, A. Louie & Associates Corp, said.

The new Central Committee was formally chosen by the party’s five-yearly congress at its closing session this morning. It also approved Mr. Hu’s report, delivered in a two-hour speech on October 15, and discussed by the more than 2,200 delegates since.

While details of candidates for the committee weren’t disclosed, Messrs. Zeng, Wu, and Luo are all of the party’s traditional retirement age of 68, indicating they chose to leave rather than getting voted out.

The Central Committee meets tomorrow to appoint a 24-member Political Bureau and the Politburo Standing Committee of as many as nine members.

The vacancies created by Messrs. Zeng, Wu, and Luo are likely to be filled by younger communists who will succeed Mr. Hu when he steps down in 2012. Mr. Wu, 69, headed the party’s disciplinary committee, while Mr. Luo, 72, oversaw security as head of the party’s political and legal committee.

The Shanghai party chief, Xi Jinping, 54, and the head of the party in northeastern Liaoning province, Li Keqiang, 52, top the list of new leaders, according to Willy Wo-Lap Lam, adjunct professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Both men held simultaneous press briefings on October 16 at the tightly organized congress and were re-elected to the central committee yesterday.

Mr. Xi, a chemical engineering graduate, pledged growth for China’s financial center, saying Shanghai will develop high-technology and service industries to make the city a “global metropolis.” Mr. Li, who has a doctorate in economics from Peking University, emphasized increasing social security and housing benefits for the poor in his industrial province.

“They’re both known to be very pro-business,” said Robert Kuhn, a senior adviser to Citigroup Inc. and a long-time adviser to the Chinese government. “I can’t imagine a better team.”

The party congress also agreed yesterday to amend the constitution to include Mr. Hu’s platform of “putting people first” through a so-called “scientific outlook on development.”

While Deng Xiaoping transformed communist China with his maxim that “to get rich is glorious,” Mr. Hu wants to narrow the gap between rich and poor among China’s 1.3 billion people. His October 15 keynote address called for “new victories in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.”

More than 318 million Chinese live in poverty, on less than $2 a day, according to the World Bank. At the same time, the nation has 106 American-dollar billionaires and 320,000 dollar-denominated millionaires, according to the Shanghai-based Hurun Report and Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini, respectively.

One of the officials who played a key role in China’s economic emergence, Wu Yi, also stepped down from the party leadership today, along with another vice premier, Zeng Peiyan, who has overseen industry.

Wu Yi, 68, described by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as “a force of nature,” will retire from the government when parliament meets in March, according to her former aide Guan Anping.


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