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Jiang remains power behind throneParty line-up clips new leader's wings
By Willy Wo-Lap Lam
(CNN) -- The powers of new Chinese leader Hu Jintao will likely be circumscribed by the election of numerous protégés of President Jiang Zemin to the Communist Party's ruling Central Committee. The 16th Party Congress closed in Beijing Thursday after 2,114 delegates cast their ballots to pick 198 full and 158 alternate members of the Central Committee. The new Central Committee will meet Friday morning to pick the Politburo and the supreme Politburo Standing Committee (PSC). As expected, six of the seven members of the out-going PSC, including Jiang, 76, Premier Zhu Rongji, 74, parliament chief Li Peng, 74, have retired from the Central Committee. Vice-President Hu, the 59-year-old leader of the so-called 'fourth generation', is tipped to be elected the party's new general secretary on Friday. However, Jiang is likely for the foreseeable future to remain the nation's most important politician thanks to the large number of Central Committee members who come from the Jiang or Shanghai Faction. Pro-JiangInitial tallies show that almost 30 full Central Committee members are considered close to the Jiang or Shanghai Faction. Pro-Jiang forces within the Central Committee will be even more substantial if the generals -- most of whom owe their rise to the president -- are counted. Moreover, at least half of the 20-odd Politburo members who will be picked on Friday are expected to be Jiang loyalists. Political analysts say that Hu has done reasonably well regarding the number of his protégés and allies who have made it to the Central Committee. The analysts say about 20 full Central Committee members are deemed members of Hu's so-called Communist Youth League Faction. However, only a couple of these Hu-affiliated Central Committee members are expected to make it to more senior bodies such as the Politburo or the party secretariat. New faces, old habitsReflecting the new imperative of rejuvenation, the average age of committee members is just over 55 -- well below the usual retirement age of 60. More than 20% of members are aged below 50. One hundred and eighty of the 356-member organ are new faces, reflecting the broad sweep of the transition from the Third to the Fourth Generation of leadership. On top of that, the overwhelming majority -- 98.6 percent -- of committee affiliates are college educated and all of them started work after the Communist revolution in 1949. But in a sign that old habits die hard -- even more the case with old soldiers -- officers from the People's Liberation Army have retained their disproportionately large share of Central Committee seats. About 20 percent of members are either generals or senior staff from the different branches of the army and the People's Armed Police. In addition, 27 committee members are women and 35 members of ethnic minorities.
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