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China’s children of the 70s come to the fore as next generation of leaders starts to emerge
- Cadres born in the 1970s are starting to move up the Communist Party career ladder as they prepare for more senior roles
- This cohort is generally highly educated, but loyalty to Xi Jinping may be the most important ingredient for success
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The Communist Party of China will undergo a major leadership shake-up at its party congress in the second half of 2022. In this series, the South China Morning Post looks at what the party’s next generation of leaders might look like.
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China-watchers are keeping a close watch on the rise of politicians born in the 1970s, as the Communist Party’s next generation of leaders is likely to come from this group.
President Xi Jinping is widely expected to secure a third term as the party’s general secretary when the Communist Party holds its 20th national congress later this year.
The congress will also elect a new Central Committee, the party’s top policy-making body, which will in turn select the leadership core, the Politburo.
As most party leaders who were born in the 1960s are expected to retire together with Xi, 69, when he takes his final bow, the next generation will form the new leadership core although most of these future leaders are not well known and it is hard to predict the final outcome.
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A tally by the Post shows that the party has promoted at least 12 of these 1970s leaders to senior ranks of provincial standing committees so far this year, compared with 33 last year.
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