Chinese Communist Party Elects New Central Committee

The 17th congress of the Chinese communist party closed in the Great Hall of People Beijing after seven days Sunday.

Over 2,200 delegates elected 204 members and 167 alternate members of the central committee, the party’s top decision-making body, and installed the 127-member Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The congress, held every five years, also endorsed Hu’s doctrine of “scientific development” and asked that it be incorporated into the party’s constitution.

Those not re-elected to the party’s 204-member committee include Vice President Zeng Qinghong (68), secretary of the discipline commission Wu Guanzheng (69), and secretary of the central political and legal affairs committee Luo Gan (72), meaning they cannot be chosen for the all-powerful Politburo standing committee. The standing committee, the party’s top political body that currently comprises nine of China’s highest leaders, is expected to see four of its members replaced, including Huang Ju, who died of illness in June.

Vice premier Wu Yi also retired as expected, along with fellow vice premier Zheng Peiyan and China’s defense minister Cao Gangchuan. Wu, known as the “iron lady,” had led China`s talks on economic affairs with the U.S. and Japan.

More than half of all the members of the central committee are new faces: 104 out of 204. The most notable are Xi Jinping, Shanghai party chief, Li Keqiang, head of northeastern Liaoning province, Zou Yongkang, the nation’s police chief, and He Guoqiang, who is in charge of the party’s personnel files. The four young leaders are widely expected to be promoted to the standing committee.

Seventeen out of 221 candidates failed to secure central committee seats. The number of candidates versus seats increased this year to 8.3 percent from 3.2 percent at the 16th congress.

The central committee meets tomorrow to appoint the party leadership, including a 24-member Political Bureau and the Politburo standing committee.

orionha@donga.com