Desmond Shum, a sinologist, and author of Red Roulette, recently commented on Chen Jining
and Li Ganjie, two Tsinghua alumni who became new Politburo members. Chen Jining is now
Party Secretary of Shanghai and Li Ganjie is head of the powerful CCP CC Organization
Department. Shum observed: Tsinghua graduates thousands of students every year. Just
because they came from the same school, it doesn’t mean they are aligned politically. Chen Xi
was a college mate of Xi. Xi had arranged Chen Xi's career promotions 5/6 years before he
became party secretary. Chen Xi was transferred out of Tsinghua, to brush up his resume with
experience as a provincial leader. This was done so that Chen Xi would have the resume to
take bigger jobs in central government once Xi was in power. When Xi first came to power, he
wanted to promote bureaucrats who didn’t have ties to the then existing power structure. That’s
why he brought in academics and CEOs of larger SOEs. He wanted people who owe their
careers to him. It was under this circumstance, Chen Jining and Hu Heping, came to power.
Chen Xi had a role, but it wasn’t all his doing. Chen Jining’s rise doesn’t have anything to do
with Chen Xi. As a matter of fact, Chen Xi doesn’t like him, and reports are that Chen Xi didn’t
promote Chen Jining. Chen Jining’s key sponsor is most likely to be Liu Yandong, Vice
Premier under Wen Jiabao. Of course, he has since endeared himself with Xi. All in all, many
leading politicians came from Tsinghua because as the leading university in China it graduates
the brightest, and because of that many aspiring politicians came to the university to brush up
their resumes as graduate students. But they don’t have shared political interests or beliefs. To
group all Tsinghua graduates as a political clique is misleading
|
