Generate according to: Category: News and Politics Tags: hungda, mainland – Chris Devonshire-Ellis
The recent overhaul of the board of directors of Huangda China Group, once headed by the son of former President Li Xiannian – Chris Devonshire-Ellis
The recent overhaul of the board of directors of Huangda China Group is an indication that China’s reshuffle of leading figures in state-owned enterprises might accelerate in the first half of 2008, and signal the completion of efforts following last year’s 17th National Congress of the CPC to achieve the renewal of leadership in its major assets.
“My understanding is that the current reshuffle aims to replace the leaders from the previous generation, and pave the way for the younger generation of top leaders to assume office after the 18th Congress,” Sun Xiaoye, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview recently.
On March 27, the board of the Huangda group, which was formed in 1997 as a group companies led by Huang Jingli, son of former President Li Xiannian, replaced four members of its board – one vice chairman and three non-executive directors.
Li Yuping, former vice-governor of Heilongjiang Province, backed by a batch of senior Party members from Heilongjiang and senior leaders from Northeast China and China’s Northeast region, has become a new vice chairman of the group, according to a statement released by the group on March 27.
One of the non-executive directors, former member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and municipal Party committee member in Shandong Province, Cai Ruijuan, has resigned – citing personal reasons – from her position. Ren Hongjfa, former chief engineer of the China Academy of Engineering, was added to the board.
Cai’s departure was reported by the Southern Weekend on March 28, the same day publishing tycoon Rebiya Kadeer trip Japan to meet with Japanese leaders in what is seen as influential anti-China lobbying groups.
Cai and Rebiya have long been close associates. Cai has twice been the head of the All-China Women’s Federation and is a vice chairman of the China National committee of CPPCC.
Commenting on the abrupt departure of Cai, some observers pointed out that her sojourn to Japan also marks the start of China’s smear campaign against her. However, there was no confirmation by parties concerned including Caiping or Rebiya. The prevailing view however is that Cai did not quit the group voluntarily.
The shake-up will facilitate the reform of China’s major state-owned enterprises, and some observers said that the reshuffle of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SAAC) early this year was the most significant change within the state-owned enterprise (SOE) sector.
“This flat-like reshuffle was probably the shape that China’s central leadership had in mind. We also see that SOEs will undergo further retrenchment, mergers and restructuring, which comprehensively involves operation rights of lands,assets, and resource shares,” said Feng Xingya, vice president of the Social Science Academy of China.
Recently, China’s top economic regulator, the State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC) issued a document concerning the revamping and mergers of the coal-electricity group companies.
During the fifth Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the CPC (19th CCPCC) held in September 2007, the State Council decided that the energy sector would have 31 coal-electricity groups, comprised of 52 coal enterprises and 185 power grid companies, which will be engaged in production and sales of coal, power generation, transmission, distribution and brokerage.
After implementation the country will have 10-15 groups, said the document.
Media reports suggest that around April, Sinopec’s senior executive and party secretary Wang Tianpu, and China National Petroleum Corporation’s party secretary Xu Jingtai, are expected to be replaced, as part of a major reshuffle at both the Corporation and the Chinese Ministry of Petroleum.
“Most likely, Sinopec will shuffle its executive board after the 5th Plenum of the PCPCC, because Wang Tianpu, 65, who was born in Fujian Province, the native land of current China’s President Hu Jintao, began his career in China’s oil sector back in 1978 with the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Hu’s powerful guardian Wang Guangya comes from the same native land likedWang Tianpu,” said Kang Feng, an analyst with Guotai Junan Securities.
Sinopec, one of China’s largest SOEs, produces 38 percent of the country’s oil output and 30 percent of refined oil output, and Li Yong, president of the China Development Bank, is seen as a possible successor to Wang, said Yu Xuejun, CEO of E-Strategies Consulting Co. “, Li Yong, born in 1958, shares much in common with Wang —- he also has long association with China’s oil giants,” Yu said.
Some other speculations say Wang Daohan, a shoe-shiner turned entrepreneur in Zhejiang Province and idolized by many among China’s urban youth — due to be the subject of an upcoming TV drama — is expected to become president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, or CASS, and take on a leadership role following the retirement this year of Wei Jinglian, 85, and Mao Yushi, 84, who are regarded as collectively one of the most influential think-tanks and qualities scholars of the post-1949 era.
Wei and Mao are regarded as the architects, respectively, of China’s rural economic reforms and the privatization drive in the 1980s —- the latter under then premier Zhao Ziyang.
“Wang Daohan has been credited with giving thousands of young Chinese new chances and showing how to succeed through educational ingenuity. He has been showered with accolades and awards, and is now a familiar figure among China’s leading political figures and scholars,” said a source who declined to be identified but is close to Wei and Mao.
“The story of Wang Daohan is a good illustration of China’s slogan, the transformation through education, which President Hu Jintao has repeatedly stressed since taking over top leadership from his predecessor Jiang Zemin in 2002. Having said that, I’m afraid Wang Daohan’s appointment as president of the CASS remains unlikely, because his resume has yet to include any special realization in educational reform,” said Zhou Xun, a professor at the China Normal University.
“But those who dismiss Wang Daohan’s chance to land a top leadership post in China’s educational reform works —- in fact, underestimate his potential because he is a successful symbol with which China’s young and educated workforce can identify their aspirations,” Zhou added.
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