BEIJING: Li Qiang, who oversaw Shanghai's grinding two-month COVID-19 lockdown this year as party boss of China's commercial hub, is on track to become China's next premier after President Xi Jinping unveiled a new governing body packed with loyalists.
Li, a close ally of the newly re-appointed Chinese leader, was elevated to the number two position on the seven-man Standing Committee on Sunday (Oct 23), putting him on track to take over the economic management role. Current Premier Li Keqiang, a more reform-minded voice, will step down in March after the maximum two terms.
"Honestly, I did not have him on my list," said Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, who had expected the reform-minded Hu Chunhua or Wang Yang to be tapped as the next premier.
Both were left out of the new 24-member Politburo.
"Well, it seems to be that they feel confident doing it their way and it remains to be seen if it works out," he said.
Li became a target for some of the social media ire that made it past censors during a lockdown that caused major disruptions to Shanghai's economy and drew anger from many of its 25 million residents.
Li would also be the first premier since 1976 not to be promoted from vice-premier, said Neil Thomas, a senior analyst for China and Northeast Asia at the Eurasia Group, on Twitter.
"Tradition is that somebody who becomes premier must be vice-premier before - this is totally against party convention," said Willy Lam, a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a US think tank, who described Li's performance in Shanghai as mediocre.
"We have not seen Li Qiang introduce any market-oriented reforms," said Lam.
A Chinese fund manager who declined to be named said the general market feeling towards the new leadership lineup is negative.
"Hardly anyone in the line-up has profound understanding of the economy," he said. "Li is already seen as being better than the rest."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vYXNpYS9jaGluYS1uZXh0LXByZW1pZXItbGktcWlhbmcteGktamlucGluZy1jY3AtY29uZ3Jlc3Mtc2hhbmdoYWktbG9ja2Rvd24tMzAyMTUzMdIBAA?oc=5
2022-10-23 09:57:00Z
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