These seven men are among the most powerful in the world. Bet you only know one? Bolsonaro supporter fires grenades at police – arrested

Hardly anyone outside of China knows their names. Of the top politicians in the People’s Republic, only Xi Jinping, the head of the Communist Party (KP), is internationally known. But the seven men who sit on the Politburo’s Standing Committee can rightfully count themselves among the most powerful in the world.

In the course of the 20th Communist Party Congress, the committee was replaced after five years – an explosive selection process, as there are numerous interests and (sometimes overlapping) factions within the KP elite. There are no elections in autocratic China. New positions have also been filled in the 25-person Politburo. There are no women in the Politburo.

As the party’s general secretary, Xi Jinping has managed to increasingly align the leadership of the CP with himself and his people over the past decade. A concentration of power that last existed under Mao Zedong – but at the time without the digital technologies that the CP uses today to control the party and the people. With the commission presented on Sunday, he has reached the pinnacle of his power as it consists only of Xi loyalists.

He needs them to consolidate his expansion of power by extending his tenure as president and head of the Communist Party, which is actually not in line with the party, so Xi is out of potential remedial action. Who are the heads of the new Standing Committee? Introduce:

Xi Jinping (born 1953)

KP Secretary General. Xi has rewritten the succession rules, according to which the positions of general secretary and president of state can only be held by the same person for ten years, two terms. Deng Xiaoping started this to avoid a chaotic one-man regime like under Mao. Xi is a Marxist and a technology-obsessed control freak. He believes that the private sector should submit to the party and rejects liberal and democratic systems as the leader of a Leninist party.

Li Qiang (1959)

Loyal friend Xi, most recently head of the Communist Party in Shanghai, new to the Standing Committee. Li was Xi’s bureau chief from 2004 to 2007 when he was secretary of Zhejiang Provincial Party. In 2017, he was promoted to party leader in the financial metropolis of Shanghai, one of the most important offices in China. In the spring, however, he was politically responsible for the lockdown chaos in the wake of the Corona outbreak in Shanghai. He has no experience with central government yet. This means that Xi Jinping considers loyalty more important than competence. Also, Li is likely to become prime minister, the main government office. The prime minister has always been treated as sort of number two in the country, after the president and the head of the Communist Party. According to the Wall Street Journal, Li Qiang is considered more liberal in business circles.

Cai Qi (1955)

Xi loyalist and new to the Standing Committee. Most recently, Cai was head of the Beijing Communist Party – a central position in the party’s power hierarchy. Cai became known for being personally on social media a decade ago. In the capital he then put an end to this apparition.

Ding Xuexiang (1962)

Xi confidant and his bureau chief. Thing is new to the Standing Committee. He heads the General Bureau of the Central Committee, which is responsible for administrative matters such as Politburo appointments, internal communications and drafting party guidelines. His card for this was therefore shaped by partisan organizational tasks. China’s top executives have all also held regional positions in their party careers, Ding has not. He became Xi’s office manager in 2012, accompanying him to all important appointments.

Li Xi (1956)

Xi loyalist, most recently the CP chief of Guangdong, new to the Standing Committee. Li started his party career in western and central China. He has been party leader of Guangdong Province since 2017. Also touted as a future anti-corruption official, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Zhao Leji (1957)

Anti-corruption officer. Zhao is part of the political control apparatus. In addition to his appointment to the Standing Committee in 2017, he became head of the Central Disciplinary Committee, a sort of parallel justice system for party members, which cadres feared. The job isn’t easy: it was previously in the hands of Xi’s confidant Wang Qishan, who led Xi’s anti-corruption campaign. In doing so, he took on the dangerous security apparatus, eliminated Xi’s party opponents and put an end to corrupt practices. Meanwhile, Wang’s own environment is the subject of investigation.

Wang Huning (1955)

Xi’s foremost ideologue and member of the Standing Committee since 2017. Wang provides the theoretical underpinnings of Xi Jinping’s political maxima. He was the speechwriter for Xi’s predecessors Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin and is considered an advocate of China’s new aggressive foreign policy.

This article was first published on Zeit Online. Watson may have changed headlines and subtitles. Here’s the original.