Quality. Independence. Impact.

Home | Contact Us | Media Resources

Sunday September 7, 2008

Welcome   |   Register   |   Log in

Past Event

A John L. Thornton China Center and Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies Event

China’s 17th Party Congress: Looking Ahead to Hu Jintao’s 2nd Term

China, China's 17th Party Congress

Event Summary

The future of Chinese socio-economic and political development in the coming five years will be defined by the outcome of the 17th Party Congress. This landmark political event selects the next generation of Chinese leaders and defines the policy vision that will guide China in the years to come. The Congress also has major implications for China’s domestic politics and the China-U.S. relationship.

Event Information

When

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
2:00 PM to 5:15 PM

Where

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC
Map

Contact: Brookings Office of Communications

E-mail: events@brookings.edu

Phone: 202.797.6105

On October 30, the John L. Thornton China Center and the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies hosted a conference on the outcomes of the 17th Party Congress and Hu Jintao’s second term. A distinguished panel of experts discussed trends in leadership characteristics, factional politics, ideological change, the issue of political succession, the institutionalization of power, socio-economic policy, and Chinese foreign policy.

After each panel, participants took audience questions.

Transcript

CHENG LI: Let me first share with you my main observation and argument and also provide some background. The main argument is that there is a consolidation of two almost equally powerful political coalitions in the leadership, what I call the populist coalition versus the elitist coalition. This is evident in all three levels of analysis. It is evident in terms of distribution of power in the 17th Party Congress, Party Committee, Central Committee, it is evident in terms of the equal share of seats among the fifth-generation leaders in the new Politburo, and also it is evident in terms of the new dual successor model in which each comes from one coalition.

Let me also briefly define the composition of the two coalitions. The first, the populist coalition, is led by Party Secretary General Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, and consists mainly of tuanpai officials. Tuanpai is a Chinese term that refers to the Chinese Communist Youth League officials and they advance their careers through the ranks of the Youth League. And also by the party functionaries, those who work in propaganda organizations, the United Front, et cetera. And by the new left intellectuals who really take a more critical view of the market transition and market reform and also to a certain extent economic liberalization. And by rural leaders and also by provincial leaders mainly especially from the inland provinces which one may call China's Red States following the term in American politics.

In contrast, the elitist coalition is led by former Party Boss Jiang Zemin and increasingly by Zeng Qinghong and Xi Jinping and the core group is the so-called princlings, children of high-ranking officials, by the Shanghai Gang, a little power decline but still survived, and by entrepreneurs and the returnees, foreign-educated Chinese nationals, and also by urban leaders especially from costal regions and major cities that we call China's Blue States.

Participants

Panel 1 Moderator

Panel 2

Nicholas Lardy

Peter G. Peterson International Institute of Economics

Kenneth Lieberthal

University of Michigan

Orville Schell

Asia Society

My Portfolio

My New Content

View suggested content based on items you have saved to your Portfolio.
Log in or register now