China's New Leadership and Implications for the United States

Today we will examine the changes in China's political, economic, and security landscape following the Party Congress last November. We'll also discuss U.S. policy toward the region in light of these changes. Last fall, the Chinese Communist Party's 18th Party Congress ushered in the "Fifth Generation" of political leaders. We'll begin today by addressing who was selected for the powerful Politburo Standing Committee, who was not selected, and what these decisions suggest about the Party's policy directions and priorities. We look forward to hearing our witnesses' testimony today about how these officials' backgrounds, loyalties, patronage networks, and other factors may have affected the transition. Panel II will assess the prospect for economic reform under China's Fifth Generation leaders. Panel III will address China's Military transition. We'll conclude today's hearing with a panel on policy implications of these transitions for the United States. By now, the broad outlines of the U.S. "rebalancing" policy to Asia are well-known. We're interested in our witness' views on how sound the policy is and how well it's been implemented so far.