China’s Leadership Structure Could Change at Fall Congress

Democratic reforms could follow once Xi takes charge

(L-R) Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Qishan, National People's Congress chairman Zhang Dejiang, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, Politburo Standing Committee member Liu Yunshan and Politburo member Zhang Gaoli at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 3, 2017. Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images

News Analysis

The Politburo Standing Committee has been the Chinese regime’s top decision-making body in recent history. Thus, Communist Party factions and powerful elders have strived to secure committee seats for their protégés before the National Congress, a crucial political meeting held once every five years during the fall season, where the Party’s top officials are announced.

This fall, however, the committee might no longer be a key factor in elite Chinese politics.

Since the end of July, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has carried out several moves that appear to lend credence to speculation from earlier this year that he intends to break current leadership succession norms and even abolish the committee.

If Xi continues along the current trajectory of power consolidation, the Chinese regime is set to shift at the 19th National Party Congress from rule by a “collective leadership” to a rule of one.

China regime's leader Xi Jinping during a meeting with the delegation from the seventh meeting of BRICS senior representatives on security issues at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 28, 2017. NG HAN GUAN/AFP/Getty Images