Lu Hao (born 1967) January 2003, Lu was named vice mayor of Beijing, overseeing the city's Industry Work Commission and Economic Commission, overseeing the broad portfolios of state assets supervision, industry, and information technology. In May 2008, Lu was named First Secretary of the Communist Youth League. He also served "ex officio" as the president of the China Youth University for Political Sciences. Prior to Lu, various political heavyweights, including former party leaders Hu Yaobang and Hu Jintao, and Premier Li Keqiang, had served in this position. At age 40, Lu became the youngest provincial-ministerial level official in the country. In 2009, Lu in
Hu Jintao whether or not he was as ill as he had claimed. Martin Seiff of United Press International commented on Putin and Hu, "Both are tough and able authoritarians who had extensive experience of repressing dissent on their rise to the top." Before the opening of the 14th National Congress of the CPC in 1992, senior party leaders, including Deng and Chen Yun, were to select candidates for the Politburo Standing Committee to ensure a smooth transition of power from the so-called second-generation leaders (Deng, Chen, Li Xiannian, Wang Zhen, etc.) to third-generation leaders (Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, Qiao Shi etc.).