Behind every somber character that made it onto the Politburo Standing Committee in the Chinese Communist Party’s recent leadership shakeup, there lies a story of intrigue and horse-trading.
Li Yuanchao at the 18th National Party Congress in Beijing, November. Li Yuanchao was expected by some to enter the Standing Committee in the recent leadership transition; he is thought to have failed in doing so due to factional struggle. (Feng Li/Getty Images)
Matthew Robertson is the former China news editor for The Epoch Times. He was previously a reporter for the newspaper in Washington, D.C. In 2013 he was awarded the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi award for coverage of the Chinese regime's forced organ harvesting of prisoners of conscience.