Chinese Premier’s Europe Trip Exposes His Weak Position in CCP: Analysts

Li had no special flight or media questions

Chinese Premiere Li Qiang arrives at the Munich Residence on June 20, 2023 in Munich, Germany. Johannes Simon/Getty Images

China’s new premier Li Qiang completed his first overseas trip to Europe last week, but notably did not fly on a “special flight” as his predecessors did and declined to attend media questioning sessions. Li’s ranking in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is second only to that of Party leader Xi Jinping, but political observers believe that Li’s power may have been restricted to remain humble to his superiors.

Mouthpiece CCTV highlighted the details of Li’s visit to Europe, twice mentioning “chartered plane” in the same news report on June 19 when describing how Li left Beijing and arrived at Berlin Brandenburg Airport on June 18, German time.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang(L) bows to delegates during the opening of the fourth plenary session of the National People's Congress in Beijing, China on March 11, 2023. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Li should have been one of the two VIPs in the Communist ruling Party who have the privilege of traveling on a “special plane,” the other one is Xi.

According to a Party regulation proposed by Xi in December 2012, only the General Secretary of the Central Committee—the CCP regime’s top leader—and the Premier of the State Council can travel on “special flights” while other members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee may travel on “chartered aircraft or shuttles” as per work needs.

An Epoch Times reporter searched for past reports in Chinese official media and found no precedent of the Chinese premier taking a chartered plane on an overseas visit. Even the former Premier Li Keqiang, who had a long conflict with Xi, had traveled to various countries on special flights.

Li’s diplomatic trip on a chartered plane is tantamount to making it public that his status is China’s premier but indistinguishable from the rest of the Politburo Standing Committee within the CCP, according to political commentator Chen Pokong.

‘Depreciation’ and ‘Prevention’

Chen said on his YouTube channel on June 20 that Li’s downgrade to take a chartered flight partly reflects the CCP top echelon’s attitude toward him: “One is ‘depreciation,’ and the other is ‘prevention.’”

Although Li is the No. 2 leader of the CCP and the state, Xi is willing to make him very different from himself, said Chen, likening Xi’s rule to “a red imperial system” that all ministers must distance themselves from the “red emperor” as Xi is “one above all.”

Li is a member of Xi’s faction, he was the chief secretary of Xi when he oversaw Zhejiang Province from 2002 to 2007, so Xi used to treat Li as his secretary even though Li had been promoted to the state premier. “It is probably Xi Jinping instructed Cai Qi, director of the Central Committee Office, to restrain Li not to take a special plane as glamorous as the last premier Li Keqiang—this is a sort of ‘depreciation’ to Li Qiang,” Chen said.

Another measure against Li is “prevention,” in Chen’s view, Li’s governance thoughts seem somewhat different from Xi’s as Li has some ideas about a market-oriented economy and good relations with entrepreneurs during his tenure in Zhejiang Province and Shanghai. Moreover, after he presided over government work as Chinese premier in March, a street barbecue business model in Zibo city, Shandong Province, is rapidly gaining popularity nationwide.

The Zibo barbecue model stems from the street vending economy, which was first rolled out by Li’s predecessor Li Keqiang to alleviate the increasingly dire employment situation in China. However, the street vending economy failed to convince Xi Jinping and his cronies as they sought to restore the state-planned economy in Mao’s era.

Former Chinese Premier (L2) Li Keqiang shakes hands with Chinese Premier Li Qiang(R) during the fourth plenary session of the National People's Congress in Beijing, China, on March 11, 2023. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

In mid-May, Xi told a conference that the capital Beijing was first and foremost a political center, not a “hodgepodge,” and that it could not “run a factory in an alley” or engage in a “street-vending economy.” This is the first time Xi publicly disapproved of the former premier’s economic approach to street stalls.

Therefore, Li’s Europe trip with an economic mission would also be in the saddle of the CCP to “prevent” his words and actions from deviating from Xi’s orbit, Chen said.

No Media Questions

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Li did not take any questions from the media during a press conference in Berlin on June 20. It’s rare in diplomatic activities.

Scholz’s spokesman Steffen Hebestreit explained on June 21 to the journalists that the Chinese side made it clear that it was not prepared to answer any questions and suggested that if not, the Chinese Premier would prefer not to meet with the media: “The alternative would have been, either the chancellor appears before the press alone or there is no press statement at all,”

“In that sense it was the least-worst option,” he said.

Several German media outlets have condemned CCP’s banning media questions, according to a report of the Chinese language of Radio France International on June 21.

(L to R) German Minister of Economics and Climate Protection Robert Habeck, China's Premier Li Qiang, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission Zheng Shanjie pose ahead German-Chinese Forum for Economic and Technological Cooperation at the Economy Ministry in Berlin on June 20, 2023. John MacDougall/AFP via Getty Images

The prohibition of asking questions is a consistent practice of the CCP to curb the freedom of the press in China. It might be that the new Chinese premier is not confident enough to answer some sensitive questions and avoid embarrassing situations that would shame the CCP, said Zhang Tianliang, a columnist for The Epoch Times, on his video channel on June 21.

“Otherwise, [Li Qiang’s] power is so weakened that he can’t say anything [to the foreign media] until Xi Jinping gives him a direction,” Zhang Tianliang said.

Whatever the actual situation is, according to Zhang Tianliang: “Li Qiang looks weaker than expected. It can be said that since the CCP seized power, he has been the weakest of all the premiers, including ex-premiers Wen Jiabao and Li Keqiang, which is quite an unusual phenomenon for the political activities of the CCP.”