High level officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) still enjoy many privileges after retirement. All retired CCP Central Standing Committee members have luxurious homes in major cities. The current annual budget for the 117 retired first-rank members of the CCP Central Committee Political Bureau is as high as US$124 million, averaging nearly US$1.24 million per person per year. There are more than 5,000 retired CCP officials with provincial ranks, and each former official’s annual average budget is between US$87,000 and US$744,000.
Headcount of Retired Privilege Class
According to the CCP retirement system, CCP officials that are at the county level or below will actually retire, which means they will receive a pension which is a certain percentage of their pre-retirement salary. They will also receive discounted medical insurance. For CCP officials ranked between the county level and the central level, or for officials who participated in the revolution before October 1, 1949, they “leave the job to recuperate”, meaning they never really leave. These “recuperating” officials enjoy full salary plus full medical coverage after they leave their jobs.
For former offices at the provincial rank or higher, there are many privileges, and the differences between each level are quite significant.
The most recent statistics on this topic were published by the CCP Central Committee Organization Department and Veteran Officials Bureau. The statistics show that at the end of July 2005 there were 12 retired CCP officials ranked at the level of Central Committee Political Bureau Standing Committee member, National People’s Congress chairman, vice president, vice chairman of the Central Consultation Commission. Below them, there are 105 officials ranked at the level of Central Committee Political Bureau member, National People’s Congress vice chairman, vice prime minister, Central Consultation Commission member or Central Military Commission member, including the widows of these officials. A total of 5,537 officials are ranked at the level of provincial leader, including famous people enjoying the same level of privileges. The total is therefore 5,654 retirees.
The Government Budget for the Privileged Class Retirees
In 2004, government expenses for the 12 former CCP officials ranked at the level of Central Committee Political Bureau Standing Committee member, National People’s Congress chairman, vice president, Central Consultation Commission vice chairman was over US$40 million, averaging US $3.4 million per person. For the 105 former CCP officials ranked at the level of Central Committee Political Bureau member, National People’s Congress vice chairman, vice prime minister, Central Consultation Commission member and Central Military Commission member, government expenses were US$83.3 million, averaging US$793,000 per person.
The 5,537 former CCP officials who held the rank of provincial leader enjoy similar privileges. Each of them is assigned three to five working staff members, which costs the government an average annual expenditure between US$87,000 and US$744,000. For example, Wang Daohan, retired director of the Taiwan Strait Relations Association, exhausted a government budget of US$1.17 million last year, of which more than US$620,000 were in medical expenses. He has two private “Wang’s Offices” with medical facilities in his Jinjiang Governmental House and at his mansion in Shanghai. The retired CCP provincial officials in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Fujian each enjoy an average of more than US$620,000 a year from the government budget.
Top 12 Most Privileged Former Officials
The top 12 most privileged class retirees are Jiang Zemin (former leader of PRC), Li Peng (former president of China’s State Department), Wan Li (former chairman of the National People’s Congress), Qiao Shi (former chairman of the National People’s Congress), Zhu Rongji (former prime minister of the State Department), Li Ruihuan (former member of Central Committee Political Bureau Standing Committee), Song Ping (former member of Central Committee Political Bureau Standing Committee), Liu Huaqing (former vice-chairman of Central Military Commission), Wei Jianxing (former member of Central Committee Political Bureau Standing Committee), Li Lanqing (former deputy prime minister of the State Department), Rong Yiren (former vice leader of PRC), and Bo Yibo (former vice chairman of the Central Consultation Commission).
For these 12 people, each of them is assigned six security guards, two drivers, two staff members, two secretaries, one cook, one healthcare doctor and one nurse. All 12 retirees have their own lavish homes in at least two major cities.
In addition, Jiang Zemin also has an office composed of eight government officials. This privilege will extend until the CCP’s 17th Congress.
Other facilities assigned to the top 12 retirees include two Air China jets, two military jets, and three seven-car trains. Military guards must protect all the tracks used by these special trains, and all other commercial passenger trains have to stop in order to let these special trains pass, even if they are running in the same direction.
The Top 105 Retirees’ Privileges
For the 105 former CCP officials ranked at the level of Central Committee Political Bureau member, National People’s Congress vice chairman, vice prime minister, Central Consultation Commission member or Central Military Commission member, they each have two security guards, one driver, two staff members, one cook, one healthcare doctor and two cars. When traveling, these retirees can enjoy six to eight first class or business class seats on airplanes, one sleeping car or their own special car on a train.
