Zhao Leji

Zhao Leji (Chinese: 赵乐际; born 8 March 1957)[1] is a senior leader of the Communist Party of China and the Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party's top anti-corruption body. Additionally, he is a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the party's top decision making body.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Zhao.

Zhao Leji
赵乐际
Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 October 2017
Deputy	Yang Xiaodu
General secretary	Xi Jinping
Preceded by	Wang Qishan
Head of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China
In office 19 November 2012 – 28 October 2017
Deputy	Chen Xi
General secretary	Xi Jinping
Preceded by	Li Yuanchao
Succeeded by	Chen Xi
Communist Party Secretary of Shaanxi
In office March 2007 – November 2012
Preceded by	Li Jianguo
Succeeded by	Zhao Zhengyong
Communist Party Secretary of Qinghai
In office August 2003 – March 2007
Preceded by	Su Rong
Succeeded by	Qiang Wei
Personal details
Born	(1957-03-08) 8 March 1957 Xining, Qinghai
Political party	Communist Party of China (1975-present)
Relations	Zhao Leqin (brother), Party secretary of Guilin
Alma mater	Peking University

Zhao Leji
"Zhao Leji" in Simplified (top) and Traditional (bottom) Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese	赵乐际
Traditional Chinese	趙樂際
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhào Lèjì IPA [ʈʂâu lɤ̂.tɕî]

In his earlier political career, he served as the Communist Party Secretary of Qinghai, the party secretary of Shaanxi, and the head of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China. He entered the Politburo in 2012, and was promoted to the Standing Committee five years later.

Biography

Early life

Zhao Leji was born in Xining, Qinghai province. His parents were from Xi'an, Shaanxi province. The family moved to Qinghai as part of the aid the frontiers programs of the Mao years. During the later years of the Cultural Revolution, Zhao went to the countryside to perform manual labour on a commune. After working there for about a year, Zhao returned to the city to become a communications assistant at the Commerce Department of Qinghai province.

Zhao joined the Communist Party in 1975 and entered Peking University in 1977 as a gongnongbing student; he studied philosophy there until January 1980. He then spent three years teaching at the Qinghai School of Commerce and overseeing the Communist Youth League wing of the provincial department of commerce. In 1985, he was transferred to a Qinghai-based metal products company to be its party chief. In April 1986, he became deputy head of the provincial department of commerce.

Qinghai

Zhao entered the provincial government in 1993, becoming part of the inner circle of then Qinghai party secretary Yin Kesheng. He was then elevated to vice-governor, then Communist Party Secretary of his hometown Xining. He acceded to the post of governor in 1999 at age 42, becoming the youngest provincial governor in the country at the time. Having 'jumped' several levels in a short period of time, Zhao's upward trajectory began to slow by the turn of the century. Zhao became party chief of Qinghai in 2003 after having spent nearly five years in the Governor's office. Part of his inability to move to a more economically prosperous and more politically visible province was attributed to his Shaanxi background. He spoke in Shaanxi dialect even at government meetings.[2]

Zhao's tenure in Qinghai was marked by rapid economic growth, and a tripling of the province's GDP from the time he took office as Governor to when he left as party chief in 2007. It was said that Zhao took a relatively soft approach on ethnic minority issues and took on environmentally conscious investment projects. His achievements in Qinghai were lauded by the party's central leadership.[2]

Shaanxi

In 2007, Zhao was transferred to become party secretary in his parents' home province of Shaanxi, having taken on the top jobs in both his 'native' province and the province of his birth, breaking an unspoken rule in the Communist Party that party chiefs should never hail from the province they are native to. This was seen as an indication of the trust shown to Zhao by the central leadership. In 2008, Shaanxi's GDP growth figures hit 15%, becoming one of only two provincial-level divisions to set sights on GDP growth rates of over 13%. In Shaanxi, Zhao oversaw the expansion and development of the GuanZhong-TianShui(关中-天水) economic belt.[2]

After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in November 2012, he was appointed member of the Politburo and head of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China.[3]

Zhao was a member of the 16th and 17th Central Committee and the 18th Politburo of the Communist Party of China.

Politburo Standing Committee

Zhao was chosen to be a member of the 19th Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body, at the 1st Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on 25 October 2017.[4] In the same Session, he succeeded Wang Qishan to become the Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party's highest internal-control institution that has been noted for executing Xi's anti-corruption campaign.[5]

References

1. 小山 (2017-10-16). 19大前入常名单满天飞 新说法指陈敏尔被忍痛割舍 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2018-11-26.
2. 新任中共组织部长赵乐际的背景. Boxun via Zhou Yahui (in Chinese). 2012-11-16. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
3. "Zhao Leji appointed head of CPC Organization Department". People's Daily. Xinhua News Agency. 2012-11-19. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
4. Wen, Philip; Blanchard, Ben (2017-10-24). "China unveils new leadership line-up with no clear successor to Xi". Reuters. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
5. Chow, Chung-yan (2017-10-25). "China's new leadership team unveiled: Zhao Leji named as anti-graft chief while Xi Jinping elevates trusted deputy to top military role". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2018-11-26.

External links

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Government offices
Preceded by Bai Enpei	Governor of Qinghai 1999–2003	Succeeded by Yang Chuantang
Party political offices
Preceded by Su Rong	Communist Party Secretary of Qinghai 2003–2007	Succeeded by Qiang Wei
Preceded by Li Jianguo	Communist Party Secretary of Shaanxi 2007–2012	Succeeded by Zhao Zhengyong
Preceded by Li Yuanchao	Head of the Central Organization Department 2012–2017	Succeeded by Chen Xi
Preceded by Wang Qishan	Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection 2017–present	Incumbent