# Li Xi (politician)

Li Xi (born October 1956) is a Chinese politician who is the current secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the seventh-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
Li spent much of his career in northwestern China, and served as the party secretary of the revolutionary base of Yan'an. He then served as the deputy party secretary of Shanghai, then governor of Liaoning province, then promoted to party secretary. From 2017 to 2022, he was the party secretary of Guangdong province and a member of the 19th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party.

## Early life

Li Xi was born on 16 October 1956 in Liangdang County, Gansu province. He was sent to the Yunping People’s Commune in Liangdang County in 1975 as a "sent-down youth". He became a clerk at the Liangdang County Party Committee's Culture and Education Bureau in 1976, and enrolled in the Northwest Normal University to receive undergraduate education in Chinese language and literature. Li became a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in January 1982, and graduated from university later that year.

## Political career

Li started his career working as a mishu in the provincial propaganda department of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee in 1982. In 1985, he became a mishu in the office of the Gansu Party Secretary Li Ziqi. Joined the provincial organization department in Gansu in 1986 as an official, later becoming the deputy division head in 1987, and the division head in 1990, working there in 1995. Li was appointed as the Party Secretary of Xigu District of the provincial capital Lanzhou in 1995, and later became the director of the provincial organization department in 1996. In 1999, he became the Deputy Party Secretary of Lanzhou, and was later appointed as the Party secretary of Zhangye prefecture in 2001. In 2004, during his tenure in Zhangye, Li attended a four-month mid-career training program offered by the Central Party School. In 2004, he briefly became the secretary-general of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee for a few months.
In 2004, Li was transferred to Shaanxi, where he became the secretary-general of the Provincial Party Committee and a member of the Provincial Standing Committee. In 2006, Li became the Party secretary of Yan'an, the capital of Shaanxi. Yan'an is of special significance to the Communist Party as it is the site of Mao's revolutionary base after the end of the Long March. In 2008, he enrolled in the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing, gaining a Master of Business Administration via part-time studies in 2011.
In 2011, he was transferred to Shanghai to serve as the Director of the municipality's Organization Department, and later Deputy Party secretary. On 5 May 2014, he was transferred again to Liaoning province in Northeast China, and was appointed Acting Governor and Deputy Party secretary of the province, replacing outgoing governor Chen Zhenggao. He was confirmed by the provincial legislature as Governor later that year and served as governor until 8 May 2015. On 4 May 2015, he succeeded Wang Min as Party Secretary of Liaoning, becoming first-in-charge of the province.
Li was an alternate member of the 17th and the 18th Central Committees of the Chinese Communist Party, served as a full member of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and currently serves as a full member of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

### Guangdong

At the 19th Party Congress, Li Xi was named a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. On October 28, 2017, shortly after the party congress, Li was transferred to take over the politically important southern province of Guangdong from Hu Chunhua as provincial party secretary.
During his tenure, Li was responsible for overseeing Guangdong's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. During a conference about promoting the Greater Bay Area in February 2022, Li urged cadres to give priority building Qianhai and Hengqin, two border areas which were selected as pilot testing zones in areas such as finance and technology. He also called for attracting global talent, and deepening cooperation with Hong Kong and Macau in areas such as infrastructure, COVID-19, people-to-people exchange and technology. In response to heavy rains in southern China in May 2022, Li held a meeting urging officials to be vigilant and ensuring food supply and disaster aid.

### Central Commission for Discipline Inspection

In October 2022, following the first plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, Li was appointed to the 20th Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Li also succeeded Zhao Leji as Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Following his ascension to the Politburo Standing Committee, Li was succeeded by Huang Kunming on October 28, 2022, as the Party Secretary of Guangdong.
In March 2023, the CCDI announced a round of self-inspection, which Li called an "an important political task" to ensure its power is not abused. He called on cadres to "clean up, rectify and purify the organization" and take "most powerful measures and most decisive action". In the same month, the CCDI started an investigation campaign in the China Investment Corporation, the China Development Bank, the Agricultural Development Bank of China, the China Everbright Group and the People's Insurance Company of China, which Li said would solve outstanding issues in the financial industry. On 1 September 2023, Li gave a keynote address at the 11th National Congress of Returned Overseas Chinese and Their Relatives, where he called on overseas Chinese to "resolutely oppose independence and promote reunification" with Taiwan. He praised overseas Chinese for various contributions to China, called on them to join achieving the CCP's second centenary goals, and described them as a bridge between China and their countries of residence.
In October 2023, Li called on investigations to five departments, – the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, and the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration – as well as 26 state-owned enterprises, and said the CCDI would strengthen supervision of department and SOE heads, as well as increase collaboration with audit, financial, statistics, petition and other departments. Li attended the Group of 77 summit in Havana, Cuba later in the month, the highest-ranking delegation of China to the summit in years. During the summit, Li said China wanted to work with developing countries to make global governance fairer, also saying "certain countries" imposed unilateral sanctions that damaged the Global South. Li also visited Brazil and Egypt. In November 2023, he met with Central Inspection Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam Chairman Trần Cẩm Tú, where they promised to increase cooperation in anti-corruption.
Li delivered a work report of the CCDI in January 2024, which promised anti-corruption work both in China and overseas. It said CCDI would target "unhealthy practices and corruption" in rural revitalization, ensure anti-corruption work within the Belt and Road Initiative, and ensure political security and "show no mercy to those who form political gangs, cliques and interest groups". Li visited Kenya in November 2024, where he met with Kenyan President William Ruto, who revealed there were advanced discussions on China financing the Rironi-Mau Summit road.