New Guard Five Younger Officials Make Their Way to the Top

China's New Guard

Susan Lawrence in her article The New Guard: Five Younger Officials Make their way to the Top profiles five leaders on the twenty-two man Chinese Politburo and examines their potential leadership capacity in the years to come. These five men, Hu Jintao, Li Changchun, Wen Jiabao, Wu Bengguo and Jia Qinglin are all in their fifties and experienced Communist party bureaucrats. As the current members of the politburo grow older these five seemed well positioned to become the next generation of Chinese leaders.

Hu Jintao

Hu joined the seven man politburo's most senior body, Standing Committee at the age of 49 where his brief is party affairs. He also serves as vice president of the People's Republic of China. There is speculation that he may take over as party general secretary in the future. Hu ascended via the Communist Youth League, first in the province of Gansu, then Beijing. Critics point out he hasn't handled economic portfolios and has no strong power base. Mild mannered, Hu may not possess the political savvy to rise above his current position.

Li Changchun

Li has spent most of his life in the province of Liaoning, a center of heavy industry. He has served as Mayor of the province's capitol city Shenyang, then governor and deputy party chief. Under his leadership Li oversaw a number of projects enhancing the infrastructure and boosting the economy of not only Liaoning, but neighboring provinces as well. His successes earned him the task of bringing the province of Guangdong back under the control of Beijing. Previous party appoints have attempted to bring the province back under control and failed. Should Li succeed he will certainly strengthen his standing in the party.

Wen Jiabao

Wen is seen as genial competent and has a wide range of experience. He was deputy director of the party's Central Committee General Office and survived the purging party chief Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang to become both a politburo member and a vice-premier. He oversees agriculture, poverty relief, forestry, and water resources. Additionally, he was named to head the party's Central Work Commission on Finance, leading an overhaul and recapitalization of China's banks, cleaning up and stabilizing the securities markets and reorganizing the Ministry of Finance. Wen regularly travels with Jiang, the Chinese leader on trips outside of Beijing.

Wu Bengguo