Lanshu Li and Zheng Han. Among them are Chen Min’er, the party boss of Chongqing, who has been one of Xi’s longstanding protégés and close supporters, Ding Xuexiang, the head of the Communist Party’s General Office, who is 60, and Li Qiang, the party chief of Shanghai, who is 63. According to Chen Gang, Senior Research Fellow at National University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute, a top body made up entirely of loyalists would “weaken further” top-level power sharing. “Unlike his predecessors, Xi is no longer top among equals in this situation. Even if they backed him before joining the committee, he still has to delegate authority to other standing committee members, he said. Eyes will also be on Hu Chunhua, 59, a vice premier outside of Xi’s sphere of influence who was once seen as a possible successor to Xi. Hu’s career was halted in 2017 when he was not given a promotion into the Standing Committee. The presence of a young person on the standing committee, who...