![]() However, other State Council members’ ties to Xi are less direct - some of them are “protégés of Xi’s protégés.” State Councilor Chen Yiqin spent her previous career entirely in Guizhou and worked directly under Li Zhanshu, a former Politburo Standing Committee member and staunch ally of Xi. His political advancement over the past decade can be largely attributed to their patron-client ties. Vice Premier He Lifeng’s relationship with Xi dates back four decades to when they worked together in Xiamen. Wang Xiaohong, the current minister of public security, was a high-ranking member of the police bureau in Fuzhou when Xi was a top leader there. Ding moved with Xi to Beijing and continued to serve as Xi’s top aide. Similarly, Ding Xuexiang was chief of staff to Xi when he was party secretary of Shanghai. During Xi’s tenure as party secretary of Zhejiang, Li, a native of Zhejiang, was Xi’s aide and chief of staff in the provincial party committee. Li Qiang, the next premier, has worked with Xi for decades. Loyalty to Xi is a requirement for promotion, and many of the members of the State Council have longstanding ties to him. Perception #1: Xi Jinping is surrounded by “yes men. A discussion of the new State Council’s composition can shed valuable light on the nuanced and paradoxical nature of Chinese leadership. These views have truth to them, but they should be subjected to a more balanced and foresighted analysis. Namely, 1) Xi is surrounded by “yes men” 2) the new leadership is preoccupied with state security and social stability over economic issues and 3) policy priorities in Xi’s third term focus on the development of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) at the expense of the private sector. Notably, there is some widely circulated “conventional wisdom” regarding personnel trends in Xi’s third term. With such a drastic change in the leadership of the State Council, China watchers around the world understandably will be interested in exploring the political and policy implications of this leadership team. It is widely expected that the new Executive Committee will consist entirely of first-timers to this leadership body, marking the largest turnover in its history (See Table 1). ![]() While China’s ultimate decisions undoubtedly rest with the Politburo, the State Council is usually given a certain amount of leeway to determine the implementation of policy, especially in economic matters. Led by an “Executive Committee” of 10 officials, the State Council manages 31 provincial-level administrations and 26 constituent ministries. Public attention will focus on the composition of the State Council. Xi will serve his third term as president, and Han Zheng, former executive vice premier of the State Council, is expected to become vice president. ![]() This eight-and-a-half-day-long meeting will conclude with the announcement of the president and vice president of the People’s Republic of China and appointees to the new State Council, the executive branch of the central government. This past weekend, the new National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s legislature, began its first annual session. ![]()
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