Chinese president may delay naming successor

Chinese president may delay naming successor. October. 07, 2016 07:34. by 베이징=구자룡특파원 bonhong@donga.com. Chinese President Xi Jinping may delay naming his successor, some observers say. The New York Times reported Tuesday there is speculation that Xi appears prepared to delay the designation of his successor until after a party congress next year to extend his stay in power. Earlier, the AFP news agency reported that a secret meeting of Chinese leaders in Beidaihe in August discussed ways to let Xi remain in office as the general secretary of the Communist Party of China, possibly breaking the party’s established practice of power transfer after a 10-year rule.

“The delay would buy the Chinese president more time to promote and test favored candidates and prevent his influence from ebbing away to a leader-in-waiting,” the New York Times reported. “But the price could be years of friction while a pack of aspiring cadres vie for the top job, as well as unnerving uncertainty over whether Mr. Xi wants to stay in power beyond the usual two terms as party leader.” But it could also create “severe friction” in the next five years, the U.S. daily quoted Sebastian Heilmann, the president of the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin, as saying, "Not designating a successor could be seen as a trick by Xi to grab a third term.”

When Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China’s reforms and opening, retired, he created the tradition of a successor serve two five-year terms as the party general secretary and president. He also made it a rule for members of the Politburo Standing Committee, which constitutes China’s collective leadership, to retire at age 68. Therefore, five of the seven current members are supposed to retire due to age at next year’s party congress, excluding Xi (born in 1953) and Premier Li Keqiang (born in 1955). In the following party congress in 2022, Xi is also supposed to retire as he will turn 69.

However, things could be different if Wang Qishan, the powerful head of the party’s anticorruption agency, maintains his position at next year’s party congress. If he stays on at age 68 next year, he will create a precedent of avoiding the unofficial retirement age, giving Xi an excuse to stay on his positions as a Politburo Standing Committee member and party general secretary. “There are whispers that Mr. Xi wants to raise the retirement age for the Standing Committee so that Wang Qishan, the powerful head of the party’s anticorruption agency, can stay on, possibly to replace Mr. Li,” the New York Times reported.