China’s Xi gets chance to tighten hold on economy at meeting
Associated PressBEIJING — President Xi Jinping, China’s most influential figure in decades, gets a chance to install more allies who share his vision of an even more dominant role in the economy for the ruling Communist Party and tighter control over entrepreneurs at a party meeting that starts this weekend. Xi has called for a “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” by reviving the party’s “original mission” as economic and social leader. “Xi Jinping prefers to appoint party apparatchiks, cadres who are loyal to himself, rather than technocrats,” said Willy Lam, who researches elite Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. If Xi strengthens this authority, that would suggest “elevation of the party’s priorities above those of China’s economic technocrats.” Possible candidates for premier include Wang Yang, who already is a Standing Committee member, according to political analysts. That suggests Xi will tighten party control, “further narrowing the space for liberal approaches to economic policy,” Neil Thomas of Eurasia Group said in a report.