No Woman In China Communist Party's New Top Body, First Time In 25 Years

The Chinese Communist Party's top body will have no full women members for the first time in 25 years, according to the new Politburo roster released Sunday.

Sun Chunlan, the only woman sitting on the previous Politburo, has retired, and no other women were appointed.

President Xi Jinping stacked the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee with four allies, including two of his former secretaries, in a move that flaunts his power and rewards loyalty above all, analysts said.

Current Shanghai Party boss Li Qiang -- who oversaw a harsh two-month Covid-19 lockdown in the metropolis earlier this year -- is likely to take over as premier from Li Keqiang, who will retire next year.

Close aide Ding Xuexiang, Guangdong Party chief Li Xi and Beijing Party boss Cai Qi were also in the new lineup, according to state media broadcasting from Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

"It is all Xi's people, signalling he wants to rule even beyond a third term," said Alfed Wu Muluan, a Chinese politics expert at the National University of Singapore.

The leadership reshuffle comes shortly after the party concluded its twice-a-decade Congress, a major political event in which a new Central Committee of around 200 senior Party officials is installed, then elects higher layers of the top leadership.  

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