Chinese president Xi Jinping held dialogue with his US counterpart Joe Biden last November. However, there was a man seated beside the Chinese president who garnered a lot of attention. Cai Qi, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, is XI’s chief of staff. He is the first person to hold dual roles since the Mao era. He is only politburo member to publicly journey with his boss during the latter’s term as president.
Qi has also attended overseas summits with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa last year.Here are key things to know about Qi, said to enjoy exceptional trust and influence from Communist China’s supreme leader.
Who is Cai Qi?
1. Hailing from mainland China’s Fujian province, Cai Qi worked in government and party positions early in his career. It was in Fujian in the 1980s when he first met XI. They later moved to wealthy Zhejiang at the turn of the century. People who worked with Qi remember him as intelligent and approachable.
2. His higher profile places Qi on a similar standing to China’s No. 2, Premier Li Qiang, as Xi continues to departure from conventional polticial norms within the Chinese hierarchy
3. Qi was remembered as a famous social media user with 10 million followers who drew attention to issues such as youth suicide. However , after Jinping took power at the helm of affairs, Qi’s online accounts went silent and his public persona hardened, as he was summoned to Beijing to serve on China’s top national security commission.
4. Qi was catapulted to the top-decision making Politburo, a rare leap for an official who had never even served in the much larger Central Committee, normally a prerequisite. In 2017, he became Beijing’s party chief, in charge of securing the abodes of nation’s top leaders
5. Qi earned a reputation as a hardliner. After a deadly fire highlited the plight of Beijing poorer population , he vowed to “see blood” in a campaign against illegal migrant dwellings that left thousands homeless, and drew widespread public criticism, Bloomberg reported.
6. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Beijing avoided going into lockdown, unlike neighboring Shanghai. That feat was more impressive given the city hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics, implementing a so-called Covid bubble for foreign athletes to shield the local population from possible infections. Later that year, the capital convened thousands of people for a leadership congress, as Cai enforced strict testing requirements and movement restrictions.
7. Qi was one of the first officials to publicly equate Xi Jinping to Mao, saying that he was “piloting at the helm” — a phrase previously reserved for Mao, the founding leader.
8. In 2022, Jinping broke party norms to extend his own rule and promote trusted lieutenants, a move that saw Cai upgraded to the elite Standing Committee. Months later, he was appointed as the president’s top aide, gaining more access to the president.
9. Qi’s role as China’s No. 5 also makes him the highest-ranking official on a body responsible for convening the Politburo.
10. Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute, said,“Cai’s drew power from enjoying the support and loyalty of Xi,” he added. “The security of a hatchet man rests ultimately on retaining the trust of the supreme leader.”
