Chinese President Hu Jintao’s most powerful rival in the politburo has been pushed into retirement in a reshuffle of the communist party’s inner sanctum.
Zeng Qinghong, the Vice-President, was among three of the party’s most senior cadres who lost their places on the new central committee unveiled on Sunday at the close of the 17th party congress.
Although Zeng has avoided friction with Hu, his departure is seen as a boost to the president, who secured his second five-year term by winning 2 233 of the 2 235 votes in the tightly controlled selection process. It will allow Hu to replace almost half of the nine-member politburo standing committee, which will be announced within the next two days.
Zeng is a party strongman who previously held the reins of the powerful organisational department and maintained strong ties to the military and the propaganda apparatus.
A rocket-scientist-turned-politician from Jiangxi province, he rose to prominence as an aide to the previous president, Jiang Zemin, who has exerted considerable power behind the scenes since he stood down in 2002.
But the congress strengthens Hu’s authority. As well as promoting more allies into the central committee, the leader has secured inclusion of his concept of ”scientific development” in the party charter.
The process is far from democratic. The delegates to congress are carefully picked and they have little choice. In the election of a new central committee of 204 members, only about 20 of the candidates failed to secure a post.
Most of the senior cadres who were not reappointed were past retirement age. Chief among those tipped for senior positions when the new line-up is announced are Li Keqiang, party boss of Liaoning province, and Xi Jinping, party secretary in Shanghai. But the president will not have it all his own way. In making appointments, he will also have to take into account the wishes of factions. — Guardian Unlimited Â