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Xi loyalist Li Qiang picked as premier

By, Beijing
Mar 12, 2023 12:00 AM IST

Li Qiang, the former Communist Party chief of Shanghai, took oath as China’s premier on Saturday, and now faces the tough task of reviving the world’s second largest economy battered by three years of Covid controls and global uncertainties

Li Qiang, the former Communist Party chief of Shanghai, took oath as China’s premier on Saturday, and now faces the tough task of reviving the world’s second largest economy battered by three years of Covid controls and global uncertainties.

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Li, 63, is considered a close confidant of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who on Friday secured an unprecedented third term as China’s president during a session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC), and has filled up key government posts with allies.

Xi’s motion nominating Li as premier was read out to the chamber on Saturday morning at a meeting of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament.

Journalists were asked to leave the chamber as deputies, mostly dressed in dark suits, marked their ballots in a tightly choreographed process.

Delegates later applauded as Xi ceremoniously deposited his votes in the ballot box while cheerful traditional music played from speakers.

An electronic screen in the hall displayed 2,936 votes for Li, with only three delegates voting against his appointment and eight abstaining.

Li later took an oath, swearing to be loyal to China’s constitution and to “work hard to build a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilised, harmonious and great modern socialist country”.

The career bureaucrat replaces Li Keqiang, who is retiring after two five-year terms during which his role was seen to be steadily diminished as Xi tightened his grip on power and steered the country in a more statist direction.

Li will be the first premier — the second-highest ranking official in the Chinese political system — since the founding of modern China in 1949 to never have served in the central government.

Still, Li’s close ties with Xi — Li was Xi’s chief of staff between 2004 and 2007, when the latter was provincial party secretary of Zhejiang province — will empower him to get things done, leadership-watchers said.

Li is best known for having enforced a brutal “zero-Covid” lockdown on Shanghai last spring as party boss of the Chinese financial hub, proving his loyalty to Xi in the face of complaints from residents over their lack of access to food, medical care and basic services.

“My reading of the situation is that Li Qiang will have a lot more leeway and authority within the system,” Trey McArver, co-founder of consultancy Trivium China, told news agency Reuters.

Li was put on track to become premier in October, when he was appointed to the number-two role on the Politburo Standing Committee during the twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress.

Widely perceived to be pragmatic and business-friendly, Li faces the daunting task of shoring up China’s uneven recovery in the face of global headwinds and weak confidence among consumers and the private sector, as well as a shrinking workforce and an ageing population.

He takes office as tensions rise with the West over a host of issues including US moves to block China’s access to key technologies and as many global companies diversify supply chains to hedge their China exposure due to political risks and the disruptions of the Covid era.

He will make his closely watched debut on the international stage on Monday during the premier’s traditional media question-and-answer session after the parliamentary session ends.

Separately, Zhang Youxia and He Weidong were endorsed as vice-chairmen of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC).

“Nearly 3,000 NPC deputies voted to approve the nomination by Xi Jinping, chairman of the CMC of the PRC. Li Shangfu, Liu Zhenli, Miao Hua and Zhang Shengmin were endorsed as CMC members,” a Xinhua report said.

Numerous other Xi-approved officials are due to be confirmed on Sunday including vice premiers, a central bank governor and other ministers and department heads.

Xi’s new term and the appointment of loyalists to top posts underscore his near-total monopoly on Chinese political power, eliminating any potential opposition to his hyper-nationalistic agenda of building China into the top political, military and economic rival to the US and the chief authoritarian challenge to the Washington-led democratic world order.

(With inputs from agencies)

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