New York Times: Mr. Cai’s new roles indicated that he might take an important role in vetting potential new senior officials and enforcing the strict ideological standards that Mr. Xi is likely to expect from a new cohort of potential leaders. Mr. Xi is expected to secure another five-year term at a Communist Party congress late next year, a feat that would extend his rule to at least 20 years and potentially well into the 2030s.
“The ability to speak on behalf of Xi Jinping is the rarest commodity in elite Chinese politics, and Cai Qi has that,” said Julian Gewirtz, who served as the senior director for China at the National Security Council during the Biden administration and is now a scholar at Columbia University…