China names new provincial chiefs

More reform-minded leaders selected in reshuffle ahead of top-level party changes


BEIJING - A RESHUFFLE of China's top provincial leadership picked up pace in recent days, with better-educated and more reform-minded candidates selected to head key economic engines such as Shanghai, Tianjin and Zhejiang.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has also picked new party bosses for eastern Shandong, north-western Shaanxi and north-western Qinghai provinces as part of a five-yearly leadership renewal.

Other major cities and provinces such as Beijing, Guangdong and Jiangsu are expected to see similar leadership changes by June.

'Overall, the new party secretaries are the more open-minded types, in line with President Hu Jintao's reform agenda,' said political analyst Hu Xingdou of the Beijing Institute of Technology.

With an average age of 57, the six new provincial leaders are generally younger than their predecessors.

More tellingly, they have few personal ties with the provinces they have been picked to lead - a deliberate move aimed at preventing the formation of powerful local cliques that could defy the central government's directives.

President Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao have struggled to get some provincial 'warlords' to toe the line in recent years, culminating in a showdown last September which saw former Shanghai party boss Chen Liangyu sacked for his role in the misuse of 3 billion yuan (S$590million) in municipal pension funds.

The central government now appears determined to put some institutional checks in place by naming 'outsiders' to the top provincial jobs.

Two such 'outsiders' - Mr Xi Jinping, 54, and Mr Zhang Gaoli, 61 - were respectively picked to lead financial hub Shanghai and the northern port city of Tianjin, the official Xinhua news agency announced at the weekend.

Mr Xi, for instance, built his political career in eastern Fujian and Zhejiang provinces. The law professor is reportedly the first Shanghai party secretary in more than two decades who did not rise up through the ranks of the city's bureaucracy.

Mr Xi has vowed, in a speech published in Shanghai's Liberation Daily on Monday, to back efforts of the Chinese leadership to cool economic growth, and adopt a fresh approach to develop the city.

Similarly, Mr Zhang, the new Tianjin party boss, made his mark in southern Guangdong, particularly in boom town Shenzhen, which has been at the forefront of China's economic liberalisation.

In comparison, his predecessor Zhang Lichang - the two men are not related - spent his entire 47-year political career in Tianjin.

The reshuffle of the provincial leaders is a prelude to top-level changes in the CCP later this year, when President Hu is expected to nominate his heir-apparent and prime some political rising stars for national leadership.

Such top-level changes are typically shrouded in secrecy, though the weekend's shake-up appears to have narrowed the field for the race for China's 'Fifth Generation' leadership.

On paper, the move to Shanghai is a 'promotion' for Mr Xi as it would earn him a seat on the CCP's powerful 24-member Politburo.

But in the longer term, some analysts argue, the Shanghai appointment would actually dim his prospects for the top positions in the national leadership as he would be too far removed from the seat of power in Beijing.

Meanwhile, his political competitors, such as Mr Li Keqiang and Mr Li Yuanchao - the respective party secretaries of north-eastern Liaoning and eastern Jiangsu provinces - remain on track for plum appointments in Beijing later this year and are likely to gain an edge over Mr Xi as a result.

Liaoning's Mr Li, the front runner in the race to become the next CCP leader, is likely to benefit most as Mr Xi's move to Shanghai means one more rival is out of the picture. All eyes are now on the next move for Mr Li.