Li Cheng

Li Cheng

Director, John L. Thornton China Center, Brookings Institution

Dr Li is the director of the John L. Thornton China Center and a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy programme at the Brookings Institution. He is also a director of the National Committee on US-China Relations. His latest book, Middle Class Shanghai: Reshaping US-China Engagement, was published by the Brookings Institution Press in May 2021.

 

 

 

A screen showing a video of Chinese President Xi Jinping in an exhibition area at the Siasun Co. facility in the Lingang Special Area in Shanghai, China, on 25 August 2022. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg)

A new breed of technocratic elites in the Xi era: Countdown to the 20th Party Congress

Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, observes that a new breed of technocratic elites — the “technocrats 2.0” — have rapidly risen to the national leadership in China. What are the major differences between technocrats in the Jiang-Hu eras and the Xi era?
This handout image taken on 9 August 2022 and released by the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) on 10 August 2022 shows a PLA fighter jet taking part in a military drill in an undisclosed location. (Handout/Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army/AFP)

Prominent PLA elites in 'the cosmos club': Countdown to the 20th Party Congress

Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, notes that well-educated and professionally capable military technocrats are prominently represented in the PLA leadership, and this trend is set to continue after the 20th Party Congress. What contributions will this new corps of military technocrats make as Xi Jinping heads into a likely third term?
Onlookers watch the launch of a rocket transporting China’s second module for its Tiangong space station from the Wenchang spaceport in southern China on 24 July 2022. (CNS/AFP)

Rocket scientists in China's party leadership: Countdown to the 20th Party Congress

The rapid rise of “the cosmos club” has paralleled China's rising aspiration to take on a prominent role in the international “space club”. Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, takes a closer look at the career paths and institutional associations of emerging rocket scientists in China’s national and provincial leadership.
A model of China's Tiangong space station is seen at the Apsara Conference, a cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) conference, in Hangzhou, in China's eastern Zhejiang province on 19 October 2021. (STR/AFP)

The rapid rise of 'the cosmos club' in the Xi Jinping era: Countdown to the 20th Party Congress

The presence of leaders in the CCP Central Committee with aerospace backgrounds is not new, but this group has never penetrated the national and provincial levels of leadership at the rate and scale that it has during the Xi Jinping era. Two and perhaps even three of them will be strong contenders for the Politburo at the 20th Party Congress, and most of them will play an important role in Xi Jinping’s third term and beyond, says Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution.
Birth provinces of 19th Politburo members (2017). (Source: Li Cheng, Brookings Institution)

Birthplace determining political career in the CCP: Countdown to the 20th Party Congress

Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, notes that a large proportion of top CCP leaders come from eastern and central China, with less emphasis on those from the south and southwest. Much of these trends are closely related to some crucial political issues that China now faces, including the enduring economic gap between coastal and inland regions. Will the same patterns emerge in the 20th Party Congress?
A paramilitary police officer stands guard on the Tiananmen Square, in front of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, 8 March 2022. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Ethnic minority leaders for the Central Committee: Countdown to CCP's 20th Party Congress

Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, analyses ethnic minority representation in the CCP leadership past and present and picks out the ones to watch in the lead-up to the 20th Party Congress.
A man wearing a face mask following the Covid-19 outbreak walks past a Chinese flag in Shanghai, China, 2 August 2022. (Aly Song/Reuters)

Female representation in the Chinese leadership: Countdown to CCP's 20th Party Congress

Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, notes that while the Mao-era slogan of "women hold up half the sky" is often repeated, only one woman serves on the current 25-member Politburo (4%), and no woman has ever served on the Politburo Standing Committee, the supreme decision-making body in the country. He asks: what are the prospects for women leaders at the 20th Party Congress? Who are the prominent female candidates for the upper echelons of the CCP leadership? 
This photo taken on 8 July 2022, shows people passing a checkpoint with a flag of the Chinese Communist Party at a shopping mall in Shenzhen, in China's southern Guangdong province. (Jade Gao/AFP)

Countdown to CCP's 20th Party Congress: Financial technocrats in the post-1970s generation

Li Cheng, director of the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, notes that China’s emergence as an economic powerhouse has been accompanied by the rise to prominence of seasoned financial technocrats or self-taught experts. While these "new kids on the block" will most likely enter the new CCP Central Committee this fall for the first time, time will tell how they will respond to the many daunting economic and financial challenges at both the provincial and national levels.
Amazon workers, environmental advocates, labour groups, and small business owners participate in a rally and news conference to protest plans for a new Amazon air cargo mega-hub at the Newark International Airport on 6 October 2021 in Newark, New Jersey, US. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/AFP)

Worsening global digital divide as the US and China continue zero-sum competitions

In the digital era we live in, seven “super platforms” in the US and China constitute two-thirds of total market value worldwide. Yet we hardly see any significant joint efforts or “healthy competition” between the US and China to help combat digital divides in the least developed countries. These are places where more than 80% of the population are still offline and the problem has been compounded by the pandemic. How can the US and China do more where help is most needed?