This is CBS, I on the World, I'm John Bachelor. Lee Kachang is dead. Born in 1955, died suddenly of a heart attack, is the report, in 2023.

Who was Lee Kachang and what does it mean his death right now for the People's Republic of China,

profoundly challenged by a slowdown in the economy,

profoundly challenged by the neighborhood because of its predation,

and on the eve of Shijin Ping, the General Secretary the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party who is

extended into his third tour of duty on the eve of his visit with the

president of the United States we we're told, in San Francisco during an AIPAC meeting.

I welcome Elizabeth Laras, an adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum, as well as the author of politics and society and contemporary China.

Liz, a very good evening to you, thank you for this.

Leichang is dead and buried and he represents the past. What does this mean for the future? Because Leicha

Chang was seen, I read, as a rival of Shijin Ping in 2012 when the decision was

made to go with a princely, Li Kachang, I mean,

Shijin Ping, and not with a technocrat, Li Kachang. So going into the future,

what does this mean about factions and about China's development?

Good evening to you.

Good evening, John.

Yeah, it is very interesting. Well, you know, as you mentioned, Lee Kuchang was from an opposing faction.

He was from the Communist Youth League faction, which he joined back in 1973 when he was 18 years old and then he joined the party just a couple of years later,

you know, casting his lot with that faction. And over time he rose very successfully through the ranks of the Communist Party and pretty much joined, you know, his, the previous leader, the previous Chinese leader, who Jin Tao's Communist Youth League faction.

Now, Xinping originally came from another Chinese leader by the name of Jiang Zemin.

Jiang Zemin's faction was the Shanghai faction. So Li Kuchang was from Communist Youth League faction

and she Jim ping more so from Jiang Zmin's Shanghai faction.

...