New Politburo Lineup Signals Rising Stars Who May Replace Xi
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The makeup of China’s Politburo, with an official who once studied in the U.K. and a man nicknamed “Little Hu,” signals that the Communist Party may have begun grooming the leaders who will take over in a decade.
Sun Zhengcai, Communist Party boss of Jilin province and former agriculture minister, was named to the 25-member Politburo yesterday along with Hu Chunhua, the party secretary of Inner Mongolia. The two, who are both 49 years old, could succeed China’s new leaders in 2022, said Joseph Cheng, a political science professor at the City University of Hong Kong. They are the youngest members of the new Politburo by at least six years.