Chinese state media footage showed former Vice Premier Hu Chunhua attending the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Fifth Plenum on Oct. 29, ending speculation about his whereabouts after he missed a high-profile military commemoration a week earlier.

Hu, 63, is a member of the 20th CCP Central Committee and a vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Footage broadcast on the state-run China Central Television evening news program on Oct. 29 showed him attending the closing session of the four-day plenum.

According to the plenum’s official communiqué, 162 full members and 117 alternate members of the Central Committee attended the meeting.

Hu’s absence from a ceremony marking the 90th anniversary of the Red Army’s Long March on Oct. 22 had prompted speculation about his status. He was expected to appear at the event in Beijing alongside other senior officials but was not seen in the designated seating area.

On Oct. 24, a Beijing-based CCP insider with ties to the Party’s senior leadership told The Epoch Times that Hu missed the ceremony for health reasons.

Hu’s appearance at the plenum appears to put to rest immediate concerns about his unexplained absence, although it does not address speculation about his political standing.

From Potential Successor to Political Margins

Hu was once seen as a potential successor to former CCP leader Hu Jintao and as a prominent figure in the Communist Youth League faction, a political network associated with Hu Jintao.

He began his political career in the Communist Youth League faction in Tibet, serving there twice before returning to Beijing in 2006 to become first secretary of the league’s Central Secretariat.

He later served as governor of Hebei Province, Party secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Party secretary of Guangdong Province. In 2012, he entered the CCP Politburo at the 18th Party Congress.

Given his close ties to Hu Jintao, Hu Chunhua was once widely viewed as a potential successor in the Party’s leadership. However, he was not promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee at the 19th Party Congress in 2017. He subsequently served as a vice premier.

At the 20th Party Congress in October 2022, Hu Chunhua failed to retain his Politburo membership, despite being only 59 at the time. The following year, he was appointed vice chairman of the CPPCC, a rubber-stamp advisory political body, effectively moving him away from the Party’s core leadership.

Questions Over His Political Future

Despite his reduced political standing, Hu continues to attract attention, with speculation about a possible return to a more prominent position in the Party leadership.

However, the CCP insider told The Epoch Times that Hu’s political prospects had effectively ended after he lost his Politburo position and was transferred to the CPPCC.

His appearance at the Fifth Plenum confirms that he remains involved in high-level Party proceedings, but does not suggest that he is regaining the political influence he once held.