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Beijing [China]March 8 (ANI): After a decade in the shadow of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang took his last bow as the country’s premier, marking a shift from skilled technocrats who helped steer the world’s second-largest economy to support, according to Voice of America ( VOA) reported that the officials were primarily known for their unquestioned loyalty to the most powerful leader in China’s recent history.
After quitting the ruling Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee in October, Lee’s last major task, despite not yet reaching retirement age, was to deliver a state-of-the-nation address to rubber-stamp parliament on Monday. The report tried to reassure citizens of the resilience of the Chinese economy, but found little new.
Voice of America reported that Li had been viewed as a potential top leader, but has increasingly been sidelined as Xi has amassed growing power and promoted military and security services to support the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” change.
Li Wenliang’s lack of visibility sometimes makes it difficult to remember that he is the technical second in the party.
For most of his career, Li was known as a cautious, competent, and remarkably intelligent bureaucrat who had emerged from, and bound by, a consensus-oriented Communist Party that instinctively suppressed dissent.
As governor of the densely populated agricultural province of Henan in the 1990s and then secretary of the provincial party committee, Li suppressed reports of an AIDS outbreak linked to illegal blood-buying rings that pool blood plasma and recycle it after taking blood products. Injected into a donor, allegedly with local officials, VOA reported.
Voice of America reported that while Li Keqiang was not in office when the scandal broke, his government worked hard to calm it down, preventing victims from seeking redress and harassing ordinary citizens working for orphans and others affected.
But there is also something different about Li Shufu, an English-speaking generation of politicians educated in an era more open to liberal Western thought.
He came into politics during the tumultuous Cultural Revolution of 1966-76 and went on to study law and economics at the prestigious Peking University, on merit rather than through political connections.
After graduating, Li went to work for the Communist Youth League, an organization that trains college students for the role of party members, and was later led by future president and party leader Hu Jintao. The higher office quickly followed up.
Among the largely faceless ranks of China’s bureaucracy, Li managed to project an unusual candor. In a State Department cable released by WikiLeaks, Li Keqiang told diplomats that China’s economic growth statistics were “artificial” and said he viewed electricity demand, rail freight volumes and loans as more accurate indicators.
Voice of America reported that although Li Keqiang is not a populist, in his speeches and public appearances, compared with the typical lazy Xi, Li Keqiang is almost a typhoon.
However, unlike his predecessors, he has largely failed to make effective use of the platform given to him. During the only annual press conference held on the closing day of each Congressional annual session, Lee spends much of his time repeating talking points and reciting statistics. During the three years of turmoil in China’s fight against COVID-19, Li has been all but invisible.
Li Shufu, who came from humble beginnings, was once seen as Hu Jintao’s preferred presidential successor. But the need to balance factions within the party prompted the leadership to choose Xi Jinping, the son of a former vice premier and party veteran, as the consensus candidate.
The two never formed any partnership like that between Hu Jintao and his premier, Wen Jiabao, or Mao Zedong and the formidable Zhou Enlai, though Li and Xi never publicly disagreed on fundamental principles.
Meanwhile, Lee’s powers are dwindling, beginning with an office reshuffle in 2018. While some may wish for Li to be more “influential or decisive,” the ground beneath Xi’s feet is collapsing as Xi shifts more state power from the State Council, to China’s cabinet, to party institutions, Li Cheng said. This shift towards expanding party control is expected to continue at the current National Congress.
Mr. Xi, meanwhile, appears to favor longtime comrades such as economic adviser Liu He and legislator Li Zhanshu over Li, giving him little visibility or influence.
His departure leaves major questions about the future of the private sector that Xi has been controlling, as well as the broader economic reforms Li and his colleagues are advocating.
His expected successor, Li Qiang, was a close friend of Xi during his tenure in the provincial government, best known for his ruthless implementation of the months-long COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai last spring, according to VOA.
Carl Minzner, an expert on Chinese law and governance at Fordham University in New York, said Li’s success may have been less about what he achieved than because he was the last technocrat to serve at the top of the Chinese Communist Party. bureaucracy. Council on Foreign Relations. (Arnie)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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