Li Changchun

Member, CCP Central Committee Politburo Standing Committee

Date of Birth: February 1944
Place of Birth: Liaoning Province

The Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda chief was in Kenya and Mozambique in late April, forging better links with their ruling parties and media. He took his message of cooperation to the Kenyan elite, including Parliamentary Speaker Kenneth Marende, President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Vice-President Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka.  In Maputo, he met President Armando Guebuza, Prime Minister Aires Ali, and Frente de Libertação de Moçambique General Secretary Filipe Paúnde.

China’s CCTV and Xinhua News Agency already have links with the Kenyan media. The China-Africa Media Conference in Nairobi aimed to deepen the relationship, assembling representatives from Chinese state media and Kenyan outlets. Linus Gitahi, chief of the Nation Media Group attended, as did Ezekiel Mutua, Director of Information and Public Communication.

Born in 1944 in Dalian, Li studied at Harbin Institute of Technology and joined the CCP in 1965. He headed CCP cells in state-owned electrical manufacturers, which led to jobs in the Shenyang municipal and then Liaoning party leadership. In 1983 he became  Shenyang Mayor, then in 1987 Governor and Deputy Party Secretary of Liaoning Province. He joined the CCP’s national central committee in 1987.

A transfer to Henan Province in 1990 signalled that Li had caught the eye of President Jiang Zemin. In 1997, he joined Jiang’s Politburo and soon went to Guangdong to root out corruption. In 2002, he ascended to the Politburo Standing Committee. Li’s remit includes surveillance of the internet and other media.