{
  "id": "RL30990",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL30990",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 100419,
      "date": "2002-09-30",
      "retrieved": "2016-05-24T20:04:12.372941",
      "title": "Political Succession and Leadership Issues in China: Implications for U.S. Policy",
      "summary": "In 2002 and 2003, the People's Republic of China (PRC) will be making key leadership changes\nwithin the government and the Communist Party. A number of current senior leaders, including\nParty Secretary Jiang Zemin, Premier Zhu Rongji, and National Peoples' Congress Chairman Li\nPeng, are scheduled to be stepping down from their posts, and it is not yet clear who will be\nassuming these positions from among the younger generation of leaders -- the so-called \"fourth\ngeneration,\" comprised of those born in the 1940s and early 1950s. It is expected that new leaders\nwill be ascending to positions at the head of at least two and possibly all three of the PRC's three\nvertical political structures: the Chinese Communist Party; the state government bureaucracy; and\nthe People's Liberation Army (PLA). \n  During a period likely to last into 2003, the succession process remains very much in flux. \nSome who follow Beijing politics have raised questions about how vigorously China's current senior\nleaders will adhere to their self-imposed term limitations. Party Secretary Jiang Zemin, for instance,\nis expected to try to keep his position as head of China's military on the grounds that the global\nanti-terrorism campaign and internal challenges to Chinese rule create a special need now for\nconsistent leadership. Some reports even have hinted that Jiang and others may be interested in\nkeeping their Party and government posts as well. Even should this occur, members of the PRC's\nnext generation are likely to be moving into other positions of power and ruling the country for the\nrest of the decade and beyond. \n  More so than before, China's potential leaders differ from predecessor generations. While they\nare better educated (all are university graduates), they also have more diverse backgrounds and\nexperiences than previous leaders, and lack the kind of unifying formative experience that Mao's\n\"Long March\" contemporaries had. Having come of age in the political and social chaos of the\nCultural Revolution, they may be more cynical about politics, more disillusioned with the\nexperiences of their own Party, and thus less committed to or respectful of past ideologies. Some\nsuggest this may make them more willing to experiment with new or untried methods. On the other\nhand, this generation is largely a product of Mao's isolationist years. Its members were not educated\nabroad, as were many members of Mao's generation, and as a result they may be more parochial and\nnationalistic in their views than previous leaders. \n  Current speculation is focusing on a collection of fourth-generation front-runners, sometimes\nreferred to in the Chinese press as \"cross-century successors,\" for key positions. Those potentially\nmoving up include: Hu Jintao (now vice-president), Wen Jiabao, Wu Bangguo, Li Changchun, Zeng\nQinghong, and Luo Gan. As all of these men are associated with specific current leaders, the\nultimate outcome of the succession process may also provide clues as to which retired leaders remain\ninfluential behind the scenes. This paper provides an overview of the PRC's current government\nand party leadership structure; discusses and assesses pending leadership changes, the succession\nprocess itself, and the implications for U.S. policy; and provides information about key fourth\ngeneration successor candidates.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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      "topics": []
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Asian Affairs",
    "Foreign Affairs"
  ]
}