Economics
China's Xi Mines State Firms for Political Jobs Before Reshuffle
- Eight former executives installed in top provincial posts
- Appointees poised to rise in upcoming Communist Party congress
China's President Xi Jinping.
Photographer: Fred Dufour/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
As President Xi Jinping prepares for a shuffling of China’s senior leaders later this year, a new path to power has emerged: the $20 trillion state sector.
Over the past two years, Xi has installed eight former executives from state-owned enterprises in top provincial leadership posts across China. That’s double the four ex-corporate managers who were serving among the country’s 62 regional Communist Party secretaries and governors ahead of the last big leadership reshuffle in 2012.