Li Qiang | Xi’s new right-hand Premium

The unexpected and rapid rise of China’s new Premier, a close ally of Xi Jinping since the early 2000s, underlines the total and sweeping control that the President, who just began his third term, currently enjoys

The appointment of Li Qiang as China’s next Premier, confirmed on Saturday by the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, has left a long-time ally of current leader Xi Jinping holding the reins of the world’s second-largest economy for the next decade.

The unexpected and rapid rise of Mr. Li, 63, has underlined the total and sweeping control that Mr. Xi currently enjoys. On Friday, Han Zheng, the former Vice Premier, was appointed Vice President, while two other Xi allies were appointed to head the NPC and the CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference).

Also read: Xi Jinping begins third five-year term in firmer control

At the height of his political power, even Mao Zedong had to contend with political rivals who occupied top posts in the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC). But Mr. Xi, who in 2018 did away with the two-term limit that restrained his predecessors, faces no such challenge having engineered, last October, a complete sweep of the Politburo and forcing into early retirement of senior leaders like Li Keqiang, the former Premier.

The new Premier steps into a post that has been diminished over the past decade. In China’s recent history, Premiers, from Zhu Rongji to Wen Jiabao, held great sway under the collective leadership model left behind by Deng Xiaoping, essentially left to run the economy.

Also read: China unveils new leadership, dominated by key Xi Jinping allies

Mr. Xi, however, disbanded the collective leadership model, and exercised complete control over economic policymaking through party leading groups, leaving the Premier, who heads the State Council and government ministries, with the task of merely executing policy. If Mr. Xi and Mr. Li Keqiang appeared cordial in public, there was no shortage of rumours of differences between the two on policy matters, from Mr. Xi’s stringent three year “zero COVID” regime to the relentless tightening of controls over the private sector.