A major signal of Xi Jinping's loss of power

 Direct translation

Rare exchange of high-level officials in Zhongnanhai. Analysis: A major signal of Xi Jinping's loss of power

Editor : Wen Bin / https://www.ntdtv.com/gb/2025/04/03/a103972836.html / Image : Some analysts believe that the exchange of positions between Shi Taifeng and Li Ganjie, members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, sends a major political signal that the leader of the CPC Xi Jinping may have lost the dominance over personnel. The picture shows a data map of Zhongnanhai. (Greg Baker / AFP Getty Images)

The Chinese Communist Party officially confirmed on 2 April 2025 that the positions of Shi Taifeng and Li Ganjie, members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, were exchanged. Shi Taifeng became the Minister of the Central Organization Department and Li Ganjie became the Minister of the Central United Front Work Department. Some analysts believe that this rare exchange of personnel at the top of the CPC sends a major political signal that the dominance of personnel of the leader of the CPC Xi Jinping may have been controlled by another force.

On 2 April 2025, the CCP party media confirmed for the first time that Shi Taifeng, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, was transferred from the former Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee to the Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. And Li Ganjie was transferred from the former Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee to the Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee.

Public information shows that both Li Ganjie and Shi Taifeng entered the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in October 2022. Among them, Shi Taifeng took over the United Front Work Department in October 2022, and Li Ganjie became the Minister of the Organization Department in April 2023.

In the officialdom of the CPC, the Organization Department, the Propaganda Department, and the United Front Work Department are the three major functional departments of the CPC. In particular, the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee is responsible for the organization and personnel management of the top level, and is responsible for the assessment and promotion of senior cadres of the CPC. It has always been the most powerful.

It is worth noting that Li Ganjie and Shi Taifeng are both members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretaries of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee. They are currently vice-state-level senior officials. Such a high-level job swap is extremely rare in the officialdom of the CPC.

Some analysts believe that this high-level personnel exchange sends an unusual signal, which means that the leader of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, may have lost his dominance over personnel.

On 3 April 2025, Tang Jingyuan, a senior political commentator in the United States and host of "Vision Express", told NTD: This is a very obvious signal that Xi Jinping is losing his dominance over personnel. "We all know that the power of personnel in the party is actually decided by the Organization Department of the Central Committee. Li Ganjie can be regarded as a direct confidant of Xi Jinping, but Shi Taifeng is different. He is a classmate of Li Keqiang in the Law Department of Peking University and has a strong Youth League background."

Tang Jingyuan analyzed that under this situation, Shi Taifeng came to the Organization Department of the Central Committee, and Li Ganjie was exchanged to the United Front Work Department. The actual effect is that Shi Taifeng's actual power has been greatly enhanced, while Li Ganjie has been greatly weakened. The essence behind him is that the Xi faction has lost its dominance over personnel, and the officials of the Youth League have taken control of this dominance over personnel.

Since last year, news about Xi Jinping's illness and loss of power has been circulating. In addition, Xi's military confidant, Miao Hua, director of the Political Department of the Central Military Commission, was investigated, and another military confidant of Xi, He Weidong, vice chairman of the Military Commission, was missing, which increased the outside world's speculation that Xi had lost power.

Tang Jingyuan said that the political signal released by this personnel exchange is very clear, that is, Xi Jinping has been deprived of even the most basic personnel dominance at the level of the entire Politburo. "He is now basically a general secretary who maintains a superficial title."

Just before this personnel exchange, when the Politburo of the Communist Party of China held a meeting on March 31, there was also anomalies in the official reports. The party media mentioned the "Central Committee of the Party" four times, and the expression "the Central Committee of the Party with Xi Jinping as the core" that was often mentioned in the past was nowhere to be found.

Tang Jingyuan believes that "it is not Xi Jinping himself who truly controls the Politburo and maintains the overall operation of the entire CCP, but another force." He said that if Xi Jinping has lost the power to control the military and now has lost the power to dominate personnel in the party and government system, then the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China this year should be a very critical observation point.

Other analysts believe that this personnel swap at the top of the CCP not only shows that Xi has lost the power to dominate personnel, but also means that the top of the CCP is facing a new round of personnel reshuffle.

On 3 April 2025, current affairs commentator Zhou Xiaohui wrote in the Epoch Times that "If the CCP elders want to control the political situation, in addition to controlling the military power, they must also control the power of public opinion and personnel. The first two seem to be no longer a problem, but it should be a top priority to abandon the officials at all levels promoted by the Xi faction and appoint new officials so that the government orders can be passed down from top to bottom."