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China's top seven revealed
By Willy Wo-Lap Lam
(CNN) -- The seven most powerful men who will run China up to 2007 were decided two days before President Jiang Zemin set out on his U.S. tour late last month. In theory, the seven members of the supreme Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) of the Chinese Communist Party will be chosen by the 2010 delegates who are attending Friday's 16th party Congress. However, in long-standing party tradition, the participants of the week-long congress will just endorse the decisions of Jiang and powerful out-going leaders such as Premier Zhu Rongji and National People's Congress (NPC) Chairman Li Peng. While Jiang is giving up his most powerful post of party general secretary, he has made sure that four out of the seven new PSC members are his cronies and close associates. According to party and diplomatic sources in Beijing, the seven-member ruling council will consist of the following: Hu Jintao-- Vice-President Hu, 59, is slated to become party general secretary at the end of the 16th party Congress – and state president next March. Hu, who is not a member of the Jiang Zemin or Shanghai Faction, was picked by late patriarch Deng Xiaoping in 1992 as the 'core' of the younger generation. A moderate and cautious cadre, Hu has served for more than two decades in China's impoverished western provinces such as Gansu, Guizhou, and Tibet. Hu's main challenge in the next five years is to emerge from the shadow of Jiang -- and to kick start a new round of economic and political reform. Wen Jiabao-- Vice-Premier Wen, 60, is expected to succeed his mentor Zhu Rongji as premier next March. A geologist by training, Wen is the only top cadre to have served three party general secretaries: the late Hu Yaobang, the disgraced Zhao Ziyang, and Jiang. Wen, an able administrator, will continue the Zhu tradition of market reform coupled with a relatively high degree of centralized control over the economy and society. Zeng Qinghong-- Together with Hu and Wen, Communist party affairs chief Zeng will form a triumvirate that will rule China in the near future. Zeng, 63, a former Shanghai vice-party secretary, is Jiang's alter ego, political advisor and chief trouble-shooter. To be put in charge of key areas including personnel and ideology, Zeng will tend to the interests of the Shanghai Faction after the retirement of Jiang. Wu Bangguo-- Vice-Premier Wu, 61, a former party boss of Shanghai and vice-premier in charge of industry since 1998, is tipped to replace Li Peng as NPC chairman next March. Wu, deemed a diligent but unimaginative official, has not got along well with Premier Zhu in the past five years. While close to Jiang, Wu will face a tough challenge enhancing the stature of the legislature -- or promoting the concept of the rule of law. Huang Ju-- Huang, 64, is a veteran Shanghai party chief who is expected to be made First Vice-Premier in charge of the economy. The promotion of the key Jiang protégé will help ensure the position of Shanghai as the 'dragon head' of the entire economy. Huang, deemed a mediocre bureaucrat, will work closely with Shanghai Faction colleagues in the new administration to continue Jiang's policies of cautious reform. Luo Gan-- The tough specialist in law and order will be promoted to chief of the party's anti-graft watchdog: the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection. Luo, 67, is a protégé of out-going NPC chief and former premier Li Peng. Analysts say he has a tough task proving to both Chinese and foreigners that Beijing is genuinely committed to cracking down on the worsening problem of corruption. Jia Qinglin-- Jia, a former party boss of Beijing, is slated to become Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top advisory council. A lackluster cadre, Jia, 62, owes his meteoric rise to friendship with Jiang that goes back more than three decades. Given his predecessor as CPPCC chief is the popular Li Ruihuan -- a notable Jiang foe -- Jia may face an uphill struggle proving to intellectuals and non-party elements in the consultative conference that Beijing is sincere about power-sharing.
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