Zhao Leji | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
赵乐际 | |||||||||||
(crop).jpg) Zhao in 2024 | |||||||||||
| 11th Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | |||||||||||
| Assumed office 10 March 2023 | |||||||||||
| Vice Chairpersons | |||||||||||
| Secretary-General | Liu Qi | ||||||||||
| Preceded by | Li Zhanshu | ||||||||||
| Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection | |||||||||||
| In office 25 October 2017 – 23 October 2022 | |||||||||||
| Deputy | Yang Xiaodu | ||||||||||
| General Secretary | Xi Jinping | ||||||||||
| Preceded by | Wang Qishan | ||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Li Xi | ||||||||||
| Head of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party | |||||||||||
| In office 19 November 2012 – 28 October 2017 | |||||||||||
| Deputy | Chen Xi | ||||||||||
| General Secretary | Xi Jinping | ||||||||||
| Preceded by | Li Yuanchao | ||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Chen Xi | ||||||||||
| Party Secretary of Shaanxi | |||||||||||
| In office 25 March 2007 – 19 November 2012 | |||||||||||
| Preceded by | Li Jianguo | ||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Zhao Zhengyong | ||||||||||
| Party Secretary of Qinghai | |||||||||||
| In office 19 August 2003 – 26 March 2007 | |||||||||||
| Preceded by | Su Rong | ||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Qiang Wei | ||||||||||
| Governor of Qinghai | |||||||||||
| In office 16 August 1999 – 20 October 2003 | |||||||||||
| Preceded by | Bai Enpei | ||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Yang Chuantang | ||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||
| Born | (1958-03-08)8 March 1958 (age 67) Xining, Qinghai, China | ||||||||||
| Political party | CCP (1976–present) | ||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||
| Education | Peking University (BA) | ||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 赵乐际 | ||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 趙樂際 | ||||||||||
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Zhao Leji[a] (born 8 March 1958) is a Chinese politician who is the currentchairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the third-ranking member of thePolitburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), behindCCP general secretary andPremier.
In his earlier political career, he served as theparty secretary of Qinghai, theparty secretary of Shaanxi, and thehead of the Organization Department of the CCP. He entered theCCP Politburo in 2012 and was promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee five years later. Between 2017 and 2022, he was thesecretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party's top anti-corruption body.
Zhao Leji was born inXining, Qinghai province on 8 March 1958. His parents were fromXi'an, Shaanxi province. The family moved to Qinghai as part of the aid the frontiers programs of the Mao years.[1] In 1974, during the later years of theCultural Revolution, Zhao went to the countryside as asent-down youth to perform manual labour at an agricultural commune inGuide County, Qinghai. After working there for about a year, Zhao returned to the city to become a communications assistant at the Commerce Department of the Qinghai provincial government.[1]
Zhao joined theChinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1975 and enteredPeking University in 1977 as aWorker-Peasant-Soldier student; he received an undergraduate degree ofphilosophy there in January 1980. He then spent three years teaching at the Qinghai School of Commerce, holding various positions such as instructor, secretary of theCommunist Youth League (CYL) wing of the provincial department of commerce, as well as the deputy head of the dean's office. In 1983, he returned to the Qinghai Commerce Department as thedeputy Party secretary of the Political Department, as well as the secretary of the Department's CYL Committee, working there until 1984.[1]
Between 1984 and 1986, he worked as the general manager andParty secretary of the Electronic and Chemical Corporation of Qinghai. In April 1986, he became deputy head and deputy Party secretary of the provincial Commerce Department, being promoted to its head and Party secretary in 1991, working there until 1994.[1]
In 1993, Zhao was appointed an assistant governor of Qinghai, entering the provincial government and becoming part of the inner circle of then Qinghai party secretaryYin Kesheng.[1] He was then elevated to vice governor of Qinghai in 1994, and then was appointed as Party secretary of his hometownXining in 1997. He acceded to the post ofgovernor in 1999 at age 42, becoming the youngest provincial governor in the country at the time.[1] He was additionally appointed as a member of theCCP Central Committee after the16th CCP National Congress in 2002.[1]
Having 'jumped' several levels in a short period of time, Zhao's upward trajectory began to slow by the turn of the century. Zhao became Party secretary of Qinghai in 2003 after having spent nearly five years in the Governor's office.[1] Part of his inability to move to a more economically prosperous and more politically visible province was attributed to his Shaanxi background. He spoke in Shaanxi dialect even at government meetings.[2]
Zhao's tenure in Qinghai was marked by rapid economic growth, and a tripling of the province's GDP from the time he took office as Governor to when he left as party secretary in 2007. It was said that Zhao took a relatively soft approach on ethnic minority issues and took on environmentally conscious investment projects. His achievements in Qinghai were lauded by the party's central leadership.[2]
In 2007, Zhao was transferred to becomeparty secretary in his parents' home province ofShaanxi, having taken on the top jobs in both his 'native' province and the province of his birth, breaking an unspoken rule in the Communist Party that party secretaries should never hail from the province they are native to. This was seen as an indication of the trust shown to Zhao by the central leadership. In 2008, Shaanxi's GDP growth figures hit 15%, becoming one of only two provincial-level divisions to set sights on GDP growth rates of over 13%. In Shaanxi, Zhao oversaw the expansion and development of the GuanZhong-TianShui (关中-天水) economic belt.[2]
After the18th CCP National Congress in November 2012, he was appointed a member of thePolitburo andhead of the Organization Department of the CCP.[3][4] As the head of the Organization Department, Zhao was a critical figure in executingCCP general secretaryXi Jinping'santi-corruption campaign. Zhao worked closely withWang Qishan, theSecretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party's highest internal-control institution that has been noted for executing the anti-corruption campaign; in 2014, thePeople's Daily said that "Whenever Qishan makes a move, Zhao Leji gets busy". During his tenure, Zhao also promotedpoverty alleviation and strengthening Party control in trading estates, office buildings and internet companies.[5]
Zhao was chosen to be the 6th-ranking member of thePolitburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body, at the 1st plenary session of the19th Central Committee of the CCP on 25 October 2017.[6] In the same Session, he succeeded Wang Qishan to become the Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.[7] According toThe Wall Street Journal, Zhao "has been taking a largely hands-off approach during his time in office and barely involved in making decisions on investigations".[8] In September 2021, Zhao spoke at a conference, announcing a nationwide audit of major financial firms and regulators.[9]
Following the first plenary session of the 20th CCP Central Committee, Zhao was reappointed to thePolitburo Standing Committee, becoming its 3rd-ranked member,[10] and was succeeded byLi Xi as the CCDI secretary. On 10 March 2023, he was appointed thechairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, succeedingLi Zhanshu.[11]
In May 2023, Zhao visited Senegal and Morocco.[12] In April 2024, Zhao visited North Korea, making him the highest-level Chinese official who has visited North Korea since CCP general secretary Xi Jinpingvisited North Korea in 2019. During the visit, Zhao holds a meeting with his North Korean counterpartChoe Ryong-hae, the chairman of North Korea's legislative body and North Korean leaderKim Jong Un.[13]
In March 2024, during a meeting of the NPC Standing Committee, Zhao Leji pledged to revise the National Defense Education Law with a focus on "modernizing China’s system and capacity for national security". He also signaled changes in theCybersecurity Law.[14] The same month, he attended theBoao Forum for Asia, where he called on Asian countries to "jointly maintain security in Asia". He also called for implementing theGlobal Security Initiative.[15]
Zhao missed the closing meeting of thethird session of the 14th National People's Congress on 11 March 2025 due to arespiratory tract infection, which marked the first time in decades that the NPC closing meeting was not attended by all members of the Politburo Standing Committee.[16] Vice ChairmanLi Hongzhong was entrusted on Zhao's behalf.[17] He reappeared on 12 March while attending a meeting with state media employees to thank them for their coverage of the session.[18] In November 2025, Zhao visited dNew Zealand, where he met with New Zealand Prime MinisterChristopher Luxon.[19]
| Assembly seats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress 2023–present | Incumbent |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Qinghai 1999–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Head of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party 2012–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Party Secretary of Shaanxi 2007–2012 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Party Secretary of Qinghai 2003–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Lv Xingguo | Party Secretary ofXining 1997–1999 | Succeeded by Li Jincheng |