On the first day of the 19th National Congress on Oct. 18, the most important political meeting on the Chinese Communist Party calendar, there was one notable absence: Luo Gan, the former security chief.
Luo’s absence is additionally conspicuous because just the day prior he was approved as a member of the elite 42-member Standing Committee of the “presidium” of the National Congress. All other members of the presidium were present at the 19th Congress.
