Conservatives expected to dominate reduced standing committee

There has been intense speculation over who will be named in the standing committee of the Politburo, which will be composed of either seven or nine people.

Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang look sure to be named president and premier respectively. They are the only current leaders who will not retire from the standing committee.

China’s leaders are not democratically elected but decisions are made within the party elite. The standing committee is expected to be cut to seven to simplify the consensus-style rules by which decisions are made.

The Hong Kong-based Mirror Books website, which has correctly predicted China’s incoming leaders in the past, believes the standing committee will be dominated by conservatives, not reformers.

Among those expected to be included in the new line-up are Zhang Dejiang, who replaced Bo Xilai as party boss in Chongqing, Shanghai party secretary Yu Zhengsheng, propaganda chief Liu Yunshan, Tianjin party chief Zhang Gaoli and Wang Qishan, who runs the finance portfolio.

Not on this list is Wang Yang (57), Communist Party chief in Guangdong province who has a reputation as a reformer, or Li Yuanchao (61) who heads the party’s powerful organisation department.