China’s new head of government, Li Qiang, has Xi Jinping’s ear
Will he challenge his new boss?
CHINA’S NEW prime minister, Li Qiang, is a puzzle. He has called private business his native province’s “golden namecard”. He has boasted of the entrepreneurial daring of his home town, and lashed out at officials for interfering with the market. He has scolded scholars for failing to criticise his work boldly enough. But he is also a protégé of Xi Jinping, who has crushed dissent and sent shivers through the business world with his efforts to tighten the Communist Party’s control over everything, not least the economy. Could Mr Li’s appointment, rubber-stamped on March 11th by China’s parliament, make a difference to the way China is run?
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “More than a yes-man?”
From the March 18th 2023 edition
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