Central Economic Work Meeting - who’s who?
Every year at the beginning of December, China’s top decision makers gather for the Central Economic work Meeeting, aiming to set a course for economic policy in the year ahead.
Last year’s meeting rolled out the CNY4trn stimulus package. This year’s meeting, which took place over the weekend, has provided few surprises. But the conclusions do suggest that next year China will follow a more balanced set of economic policy priorities.
Growth at any cost is yesterday’s news, today and tomorrow’s news is growth alongside far reaching structural reform and attention to the build up of inflationary pressure.
The Central Economic Work Meeting ended with the publication of a lengthy statement. Attention in the press has rightly focused on the subtle changes in policy orientation in the body of the text.
But these statements always start with a lengthy preamble, setting out who was at the meeting and their place on the Chinese totem poll. This is my translation of the opening paragraph - which introduces the participants in the meeting and their titles:
‘General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, National President, Chair of the Central Military Commission Hu Jintao; Member of the Politburo and Head of the National People’s Congress Wu Banggou; Member of the Politburo and State Council Premier Wen Jiabao; Member of the Politburo and Chair of the People’s Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin; Member of the Politburo Li Changchun, Member of the Politburo and Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, Vice President Xi Jinping; Member of the Politburo and State Council Vice-Premier Li Keqiang; Member of the Politburo and Secretary of the Central Discipline Inspection Committee He Guoqiang; and Member of the Politburo and Secretary of the Central Committee on Government and Law Zhou Yongkang attended the meeting.’
And here’s a link to the complete statement.