Official Linked to Hu Jintao’s 2022 Congress Exit Lands Senior Gansu Post

Kong Shaoxun, a longtime Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official who was involved in the shocking removal of former Chinese leader Hu Jintao from the closing session of the 20th Party Congress in 2022, has been appointed to a senior leadership position in China’s Gansu Province.

On Aug. 29, Kong appeared publicly as deputy Party secretary of Gansu and Party secretary of the provincial government, according to Chinese state media. Under China’s political conventions, the appointment puts the 57-year-old in line to become the province’s next governor.

Kong previously served as deputy director of the CCP Central Committee’s General Office and director of its secretariat, placing him within an institution responsible for managing the CCP’s leadership’s daily operations. A native of Zhongning, Ningxia, Kong spent much of his early career in his home region before being transferred to the Central Committee’s General Office in 2010.

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Hu’s much-talked about exit

On Oct. 22, 2022, Hu Jintao was unexpectedly escorted from the Great Hall of the People during the closing session of the CCP’s 20th National Congress. Video from the event showed Hu, then 79, seated beside Xi Jinping as attendants approached him. One repeatedly attempted to help Hu stand before the former leader eventually left the stage accompanied by two officials.

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Hu appeared reluctant to leave and at one point reached toward documents beside Xi, who prevented him from taking them. Kong was among the officials involved in escorting Hu from the hall. Associated Press journalist Dake Kang identified the older official as Kong Shaoxun, then deputy director of the CCP Central Committee’s General Office.

The highly unusual scene immediately generated international speculation because foreign journalists had just been allowed into the hall and Hu’s departure occurred shortly before the Congress ended.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency later said Hu had been feeling unwell and that staff escorted him to a room next to the meeting venue to rest. However, Beijing has never provided a detailed public account of what happened that day.

Loyalists rewarded?

Kong’s promotion also comes amid a broader consolidation of Xi Jinping’s allies across the CCP’s senior ranks. Since taking power in 2012, Xi has been known to elevate officials with longstanding professional or political ties to him, particularly those who have worked closely with him in provincial governments or within the Party’s central apparatus.

That trend became especially pronounced at the 20th Party Congress in 2022, when Xi secured a third term and the CCP’s top leadership was reshaped around officials widely regarded as politically loyal to him. Li Qiang, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi, all officials with established ties to Xi or records of working closely within his political orbit, joined Xi on the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee. The Politburo serves as the CCP’s top ruling body.

Kong’s elevation from the highly sensitive Central Committee General Office to a senior provincial post fits within that pattern, analysts note. However, there is no public evidence that his promotion was directly connected to his involvement in Hu Jintao’s 2022 departure from the Congress.

From Beijing to Gansu

Kong’s career has largely centered on administrative and secretarial positions rather than provincial governance. After working in Ningxia, he moved to Beijing in 2010 and rose through the Central Committee’s General Office, eventually serving as deputy director and head of its secretariat.

During his tenure, the powerful office was headed successively by Ling Jihua, Li Zhanshu, Ding Xuexiang, and Cai Qi. The latter three became prominent members of Xi’s top leadership team. Kong’s transfer to Gansu therefore marks a significant shift from decades spent primarily within Party administrative organs to a senior provincial leadership role.