Wang Zhongyu | |
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王忠禹 | |
| Born | February 1933 (age 92) Changchun |
| Education | Central Party School of the Chinese Communist Party |
| Occupation(s) | Politician, diplomat, engineer |
| Known for | Politician promoting China's economic modernization |
| Political party | Chinese Communist Party |
| Wang Zhongyu | |||||||||
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| Chinese | 王忠禹 | ||||||||
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Wang Zhongyu (born February 1933) is aChinese[1] engineer, politician, and diplomat of thePeople's Republic of China.[2] An associate ofZhu Rongji, he was involved with the modernization and continuedopening up of China and its economy during the 1990s and 2000s.
Wang Zhongyu was born in February 1933 inChangchun,[3] then the capital of theJapanesepuppet state ofManchuria.[4] (It now forms part of thenortheastern Chineseprovince ofJilin.)[1] He attended Changchun's now-prestigiousHigh School Attached to Northeast Normal University, followed by studies at the Light Industry Vocational School inShenyang (1950–1953).[5] He worked as a technician at the Jilin Paper Mill[6] before joining theChinese Communist Party (CCP) in May 1956,[3] after which he slowly rose in position from deputy workshop head toengineer to deputy factory director to chief engineer of the factory by 1980.[6] At that point, he was named deputy director of Jilin's provincial Light Industry Bureau in 1980.[5]
After studying at theCCP Central Party School inBeijing in 1981 and 1982,[5] he rose very quickly through the ranks of Jilin's provincial administration[1] as it accommodated itself to the economic and structural reforms undertaken byDeng Xiaoping.[7] Wang returned to Jilin as the director of the province's Light Industry Bureau (1982–1983), was promoted to vice-governor and secretary-general of the provincial CCP committee (1983—1985), and then served as actinggovernor ofJilin Province from 1985 to 1989.[5] He then served as governor in his own right until 1992.[3] While serving as acting and full governor, he was also deputy secretary of the provincial CCP committee.[5] During Wang's tenure, Jilin began to adapt itself to Deng's policies but in a slow and half-hearted fashion, needing to spend extra time combating bureaucratic growth and adapting policies years later than more progressive provinces likeShandong.[8] The favored position ofnortheastern industries underMao Zedong and the province's lack of a port limited its people's desire and ability to participate in China's new economy.[9]
Wang then received national assignments.[1] Having been an alternate member of the13th Central Committee of the CCP (1987–1992),[1] he was named a full member of its14th[10] and15th sittings (1992–2002).[11] In particular, Wang was a minister-level deputy director and secretary at theState Planning Commission from 1993 to 1998,[5] where he headed itsState Economic and Trade Commission under direction fromZhu Rongji.[7] The SETC's remit was to promote amarket economy in more spheres of Chinese life. It was particularly focused on reformingstate-owned enterprises to accommodate allocation of their resources by prices set by a more open market and adjusting governmental policies to accommodate this.[7] Jilin had many SOEs, which Wang had long experience with, and he became one of the most vocal champions of Zhu's policies to modernize and improve them.[7]
During this period, Wang was one of the most powerful leaders in the Chinese government.[12] He was part of a consultative group tasked with exploring how far and fast thePRC could move towardsdemocracy; the group's ultimate decision was to leave openelections limited to the local level, where they permitted immediate and daily grievances to be addressed without impactingBeijing's general guidance over the country.[12] Wang also used his national influence to push for more development inJilin, particularly the establishment of international agreements permittingHunchun on theTumen River to freely access theSea of Japan across the narrow spit of territory held byNorth Korea andRussia.[13] This had been a pet project of his since 1988, when the first regional conference on the topic had been held inChangchun.[14] To permit the use of larger vessels, cooperation has slowly developed between China and North Korea in order to allow the Chinese to use the seaport ofRason, with Hunchun functioning more as its railway hub.[15]
Again with the assistance ofZhu Rongji,[3] Wang served assecretary-general of theState Council from March 1998 to March 2003, during which time he was appointed president of theNational School of Administration (now the "Academy of Governance"),[1] helped revamp the administration of theOne Child Policy,[12] served as the head of the leading group that oversawChina's 5th national census,[5] and sat as a member of thesteering committee that oversaw the2001 APEC summits around China.[16] In 1999, he also participated in thetransfer ofMacao fromPortuguese to Chinese control.[5] From 5 March 2003 to 5 March 2008, he wasvice-chairman of thePeople's Political Consultative Conference. In 2005, he headed a Chinese diplomatic mission toGhana from May 31 to June 2.[17] He served aspresident of theInternational Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions from 2005 to 2007.[citation needed][18]
| International | |
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| National | |
