Chinese President's power plans for the First Lady

Over the past couple of years, rumours have persisted inside China that Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to elevate his wife, Peng Liyuan, to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Committee (CC) Politburo. Such a move will be bold, brazen and likely to upset the CCP rank and file, but Xi has thus far not hesitated to break with precedent.

Two reports in the CCP’s official newspaper, People’s Daily, on August 20 and September 24, appeared to breathe fresh life into this speculation. Both gave prominence to Peng’s role in interactions with countries important for China.

Unusually, the People’s Daily on August 20 reported the meeting between Peng and Ngo Phuong Ly, wife of the visiting Vietnamese Communist Party (CPV) General Secretary and Vietnamese President To Lam, in Beijing on August 19. Accompanied by a photograph, the short article reported the conversation between the two. It said Ngo thanked Peng for the warm reception, and “expressed admiration for Peng’s positive contributions as UNESCO’s special envoy for the advancement of girls’ and women’s education”. The report publicised Peng’s role in UNESCO and it appeared intended to give prominence to her.

On September 24, the newspaper again reported that Peng welcomed 100 teachers and students from 10 US schools and watched callisthenics performed by the Chinese and US student cheerleaders, at Beijing’s prestigious No 8 High School. The American students and teachers were invited by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC). The report was also accompanied by photographs.

Reports circulating since May last year have claimed that Peng has been assisting Xi in vetting senior military appointments. Hong Kong-based newspaper, Sing Tao, reported that Peng had been made a member of the Central Military Commission (CMC)’s little-known Examination and Evaluation Commission. The Sing Tao published a report, along with a photo circulating on social media showing a 61-year-old Peng, in military uniform, inspecting a military educational institution. This sparked speculation that Peng, who started her military career in 1980 and still continues to be designated an active-duty military officer, is now influential in the PLA’s (People’s Liberation Army) personnel affairs. Whether she has also been promoted to Lieutenant General is unclear.

These reports are buttressed by the fact that Peng, by virtue of having held the rank of Major General in the Song and Dance Division under the PLA’s General Political Department, is familiar with the PLA and its officers. The reports have coincided with the ongoing churn in the senior echelons of the PLA, occasioned by the sudden ‘removal’ of over a dozen PLA Generals, Lieut Generals and Major Generals, including half a dozen of the PLA Rocket Force, on charges of corruption. A number of those ‘removed’ were appointed by Xi.

Among them are former Defence Minister Li Shangfu, who is a ‘princeling’ as well as a close family friend. Last week, in a politically significant move, Lieut Gen Deng Zhiping, PLA Army (Ground Forces) Deputy Commander and Deng Xiaoping’s grandson, was also placed under investigation. Peng would fill the void in vetting senior PLA officers.

Peng joined the ‘Avant-garde Song and Dance Troupe’ of the Political Department of the PLA’s Jinan Military Region in 1980. In 1984, she was transferred to the Song and Dance Troupe of the General Political Bureau, and in July 1985, joined the CCP. Coming from a family of artists in Shandong province and with the extensive resources and performance opportunities offered by the PLA’s Song and Dance Troupe, she became a popular national star.

She has also performed at the Lincoln Centre in New York in 2005 at the invitation of the organising committee on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. Peng was the youngest person in this division to be promoted to Major General. The Song and Dance Troupe has traditionally provided entertainment to the PLA troops and its personnel played hostess when senior cadres entertained.

Breaking with past precedent, Xi and Peng have often travelled abroad together. She has received wide coverage in China’s official media and TV and become a trendsetter in fashion for China’s youth. Having lived in Beijing since before her marriage to Xi, Peng got to know the late President Jiang Zemin, former Politburo Standing Committee member Zeng Qinghong and others of the erstwhile so-called Shanghai faction. While these connections would have been useful to Xi, they also point to Peng independently having a wide range of political contacts. Peng is known to have close links with a few current CCP Central Committee members and at least one Politburo member.

If Xi does elevate Peng to the CCP CC Politburo, there would be considerable criticism in the CCP. It would be a major departure from the practice followed by the CCP thus far. Very few wives of senior CCP cadres have been appointed to the higher echelons of the Party beyond the level of Central Committee members unless they were members of the CCP in their own right. Of the six women elevated to the Politburo thus far, notable have been Mao Zedong’s wife Jiang Qing — leader of the infamous ‘Gang of Four’, Lin Biao’s wife Ye Qun, and the late Premier Zhou Enlai’s wife Deng Yingchao. Though Soong Ching-Ling, Sun Yat-sen’s wife, had voluntarily joined the CCP, she was only made a Vice Chairman of the CCP CC.