Little-known facts about Xi Jinping's 'right-hand man'

The Central Party Office Chief Li Zhanshu is a notable figure.

Mr. Lat Chien Thu was once sent to Russia by Mr. Xi Jinping to be a special representative in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Amid all the attention focused on the seven top leaders of the Communist Party of China on the podium, Li Zhanshu, Director of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, attracted the most attention because he is expected to become the third most powerful person after President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.

High possibility of holding the position of National Assembly Chairman

Mr. Li Zhanshu, 67 years old, born in Hebei, before the 19th Congress was the Director of the General Office of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is expected to be the Chairman of the National People's Congress in the first session of 2018 (ie the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference are held in parallel). Looking back at Mr. Li Zhanshu's career path up to this point, it can be seen that his selection for this position is not at all difficult to predict.

As the Chief of the Central Party Office, Mr. Lat heads the agency responsible for “behind the scenes” administrative work such as: Document processing, logistics, health care, security for top leaders, ensuring the implementation of high-level decisions. Not only that, this agency also manages confidential communication activities within the Party and the Government. The head of the Central Office like Mr. Lat knows all the most important “passwords”.

However, the most distinctive feature of this position in China compared to other countries is that it can hold military power. The Director of the General Office of the Central Party Committee is responsible for the security of the top leadership in Zhongnanhai and commands thousands of elite troops from the Central Guard Force to protect the leaders and their family members.

As Director of the General Office of the Party Central Committee, Li Zhanshu often appears alongside President Xi Jinping during state visits and other important occasions. Li Zhanshu also plays an important role in many foreign affairs, economic issues and legal reforms of the country.

The person Mr. Tap trusts most

Member of the 19th Politburo Standing Committee of China Li Zhanshu.

The turning point in Li Zhanshu’s career on October 25 once again reinforced the notion that he is one of the few people that President Xi Jinping trusts the most. Xi Jinping and Li Zhanshu became close friends in the early 1980s, when both were in their early 30s and Party Secretaries of two cities in Hebei Province, China.

In addition to his 30-year close relationship with Xi Jinping, Li Zhanshu also has extremely close ties with members of China’s top leader’s family. In 2000, when he was a top official in Shaanxi Province, he helped Xi’s mother and siblings on a fact-finding trip to Shaanxi Province to gather more information about the background of Xi Jinping’s father, Xi Zhongxun.

According to observers, the time when Xi Jinping noticed and challenged Li Zhanshu to promote him to a higher position was believed to be around May 2011, when the Chinese leader visited Guizhou province on a four-day field trip as Vice President, while Li was then the Provincial Party Secretary.

The two men had several private conversations. Sources close to the talks said Xi challenged Li on a range of issues, from ideology to policy direction. Xi was impressed to find that his old friend shared similar ideas on many political issues, the sources said.

And this has been proven true over the past five years. In mid-2014, Li Zhanshu became the first senior official to demonstrate absolute loyalty to President Xi Jinping. Last June, he became the first Politburo member to push for Xi to be recognized as the core leader of the Chinese Communist Party, and President Xi was officially recognized four months later. In February 2017, Li Zhanshu praised President Xi’s speeches as “a comprehensive theoretical system.”

Xi Jinping's level of trust in Li is not only demonstrated by the fact that he accompanied the Chinese President on almost all of his domestic and foreign trips, but also by his sending Li to Moscow as a special representative for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It can be understood that President Xi considers Li Zhanshu to have a higher position than previous directors of the Party Central Committee's Office.

"Right arm"

Mr. Lat Chien Thu.

If some sources are correct in their assessment that Li Zhanshu will be elected as the Chairman of the National People's Congress, what role will Li Zhanshu play in realizing the plans set forth by President Xi? Chen Daoyin, a political scientist at the Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, believes that the connection between Li Zhanshu and Xi Jinping could strengthen the National People's Congress. "With the support of President Xi, Li Zhanshu can transform his role as Chairman of the National People's Congress (if elected) into something more dynamic than just a seal," said Chen Daoyin.

In a deeper analysis, in order to realize the goal of tightening supervision of Party members and institutionalizing anti-corruption work, improving the legal system towards strengthening the rule of law, Xi plans to establish a leading organization at the central level to exercise leadership in anti-corruption ideas, build national laws and establish a National Supervisory Commission.

All of these plans are related to the National People's Congress and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). Thus, if Li is elected as Chairman of the National People's Congress, together with Zhao Leji, former Head of the Central Organization Department, who has just been elected as the head of the CCDI, Chinese President Xi Jinping will have another powerful "right-hand man" to smoothly carry out the above plans.

According to Dan Tri