![]() “These reforms demonstrated the confidence of society with the (party) Central Committee,” Wang told Trong last year.ĭespite such anodyne declarations, Wang’s intelligence, personality and drive leave a definite impression. More conventionally, he has stressed steps taken to instill greater discipline among party members and shoring up party authority in meetings with guests as varied as Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Vietnam’s Communist Party chief Nguyen Pho Trong and Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein. Delegates applaud as Wang Qishan walks to take the oath of office as China’s Vice President during a plenary session of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Saturday, March 17, 2018. Yet he raised eyebrows in September with a 90-minute meeting with President Donald Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon, during which he reportedly quizzed the renowned anti-globalist about topics including economic nationalism and populist movements. Partly as a result of that work, Wang has maintained a relatively low public profile over recent years. He is perhaps best known, however, for being Xi’s enforcer following his 2012 elevation to the Politburo Standing Committee, charged with carrying out a sweeping crackdown on corruption as head of the party’s watchdog body that has seen some 1.5 million party members punished, including life sentences for a former Politburo Standing Committee member and a top general. Wang was then handed responsibility for preparing the city for the 2008 Summer Olympics and, after being named a vice premier, Shanghai’s 2010 World Expo. During the deadly 2003 SARS outbreak, Wang was named mayor of Beijing, where he helped quell panic by ordering quarantines and daily public updates. His crisis-management skills were in demand again when a mystery respiratory illness was identified. In one notable triumph, he was praised for helping shield China from the aftershocks of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, after which he was named party secretary of the booming island province of Hainan. Wang soon showed a particular talent for dealing with stricken state financial vehicles. Wang Qishan casts his vote during a plenary session of China’s National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Saturday, March 17, 2018. Wang’s fortunes rose with those of his father-in-law, Yao Yilin, who as first vice premier strongly backed the bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1989. ![]() His marriage to the daughter of a rising political leader granted him the “princeling” status enjoyed by relatives of the Communist elite. Wang, five years older than the 64-year-old Xi, left first for university and later conducted research on 19th and 20th century Chinese history at a state academy. The two are believed to have first met while serving as “sent-down youths” in impoverished Shaanxi province during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. Wang shares aspects of Xi’s background, and the two appear very much in agreement on the need for firm party rule and strict discipline to guide China’s economic development. “Having amassed so much power, it’s to be expected that Xi wants a lieutenant in whom he has complete trust.” “Definitely, this will further marginalize Li Keqiang,” said University of Miami Chinese politics expert June Teufel Dreyer. That stands to diminish the influence of the others on the seven-member committee, including Xi’s rival, Premier Li Keqiang - ostensibly China’s second-most powerful official - particularly if Wang is handed important tasks giving him authority over their affairs. To keep Wang past retirement age, Xi had him step down from the Politburo Standing Committee while ensconcing him in what had been a relatively meaningless ceremonial post. Wang is known for integrity and competence, but his appointment Saturday by the ceremonial legislature, in a pro-forma vote of 2,969 to 1, was widely regarded as unconventional. As China’s vice president, the 69-year-old Wang is expected to be a key element in furthering President Xi Jinping’s agenda of shoring up Communist Party rule while ending corruption and poverty. Those who’ve met him describe him as bold and probing, a problem solver who enjoys philosophical debates and has a wicked sense of humor. Fix-It,” a trustworthy official deployed to tackle the thorniest of crises - from crumbling banks to deadly illness to high-level corruption. Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Wang Qishan after Wang was elected Vice-President during a plenary session of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, Saturday, March 17.
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