Xi's Party, Xi's Politburo. Meet the 19th Party Congress Leadership

Today’s issue looks at the close of the 19th Party Congress and the new leadership team selected at the First Plenum of the 19th Party Congress. The newsletter will return to its normal format Thursday, and apologies if this issue is a bit rambling but there is just too much too digest in one newsletter.

There is no obvious successor to Xi Jinping on the new Politburo Standing Committee and the overall Politburo is heavily weighted towards members of “Team Xi”. There should be little doubt that Xi, with a huge theoretical win in the form of his eponymous “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era 习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想” and a clear stacking of the Politburo and the Standing Committee, starts his second term as General Secretary as the most powerful Chinese leader in decades.

The new Politburo Standing Committee matched the lineup predicted by The South China Morning Post. The members, their ages and likely roles (not all are announced but are usually clear):

1.…