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Changing of China’s diplomatic guard on agenda for this year’s party congress
- Foreign policy supremo Yang Jiechi expected to step down from Politburo at age of 72
- Foreign Minister Wang Yi could step up to replace him, but age norms pose hurdle
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Ahead of this year’s Communist Party congress, we explore the possible personnel changes and power structure of the areas that will have the largest impact on Beijing’s Taiwan policy. In the third part of the series, Shi Jiangtao looks at possible changes in the leadership of China’s diplomatic corps.
With cross-strait tensions skyrocketing following this month’s controversial visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, all eyes are on who will lead China’s diplomatic corps after this autumn’s party congress.
The congress is expected to see President Xi Jinping secure a third term as party general secretary and usher in a new line-up of younger Communist Party leaders.
Yang Jiechi, Xi’s foremost foreign policy aide, largely disappeared from public view after news about Pelosi’s plan to visit the self-governed island broke nearly a month ago, but he reappeared about a week ago, attending an international expo on the Belt and Road Initiative in Xian, and met Japanese national security adviser Takeo Akiba in Tianjin on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Wang Yi has been unusually busy, making headlines almost every day for the past month.
After nearly a decade at the helm of China’s diplomatic establishment, Yang, 72, is expected to step down at the congress, when the make-up of the new Politburo and its standing committee – China’s top leadership – will be revealed.
It remains unclear if Wang, who is also a state councillor, will head straight into retirement due to unwritten party rules that kick in at the age of 68. He will turn 69 in October, but Chinese diplomats and observers around the world believe that an exception to the retirement norms is likely to be made for him, especially amid heightened cross-strait tensions and deteriorating Sino-US ties.
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