Wang Qishan is known as China\u2019s \u201cMr. Fix-It,\u201d a trustworthy official deployed to tackle the thorniest of crises \u2014 from crumbling banks to deadly illness to high-level corruption. Those who\u2019ve met him describe him as bold and probing, a problem solver who enjoys philosophical debates and has a \u201cwicked sense of humor.\u201d<\/p>\n
As China\u2019s vice president, the 69-year-old Wang is expected to be a key element in furthering President Xi Jinping\u2019s agenda of shoring up Communist Party rule while ending corruption and poverty.<\/p>\n
Wang is known for integrity and competence, but his appointment Saturday by the ceremonial legislature, in a pro-forma vote of 2,969 to one, was widely regarded as unconventional.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
That stands to diminish the influence of the others on the seven-member committee, including Xi\u2019s rival, Premier Li Keqiang \u2014 ostensibly China\u2019s second-most powerful official \u2014 particularly if Wang is handed important tasks giving him authority over their affairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely, this will further marginalize Le Keqiang,\u201d said University of Miami Chinese politics expert June Teufel Dreyer. \u201cHaving amassed so much power, it\u2019s to be expected that Xi wants a lieutenant in whom he has complete trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Wang\u2019s specific duties have yet to be spelled out, under China\u2019s constitution, he would take over as head of state should Xi be unable to fulfill his duties. Unconfirmed reports also say he will be permitted to attend high-level meetings, including those of the Politburo Standing Committee, as a non-voting observer.<\/p>\n
Tellingly, Wang has also been seen at events such as Saturday\u2019s ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, seated in eighth place in the order of hierarchy, just after the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee.<\/p>\n
Wang shares aspects of Xi\u2019s background and the two appear very much in agreement on the need for firm party rule and strict discipline to guide China\u2019s economic development.<\/p>\n
The two are believed to have first met while serving as \u201csent-down youths\u201d in impoverished Shaanxi province during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. Wang, five year\u2019s Xi\u2019s senior, left first for university and later conducted research on 19th and 20th century Chinese history at a state academy.<\/p>\n
His marriage to the daughter of a rising political leader granted him the \u201cprinceling\u201d status enjoyed by relatives of the Communist elite. Wang\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Wang soon showed a particular talent for dealing with stricken state financial vehicles. 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.<\/p>\n
His crisis-management skills were in demand again when a mystery respiratory illness was identified. During the deadly 2003 SARS outbreak, Wang was named mayor of Beijing, where he helped quell panic by ordering quarantines and daily public updates.<\/p>\n
Wang was then handed responsibility for preparing the city for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games and, after being named a vice premier, Shanghai\u2019s 2010 World Expo.<\/p>\n
He is perhaps best known, however, for being Xi\u2019s enforcer following his 2012 elevation to the Politburo Standing Committee, charged with carrying out a sweeping crackdown on corruption as head of the party\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Partly as a result of that work, Wang has maintained a relatively low public profile over recent years.<\/p>\n
Yet he raised eyebrows in September with a 90-minute meeting with President Donald Trump\u2019s former adviser Steve Bannon, during which he reportedly quizzed the renowned anti-globalist about topics including economic nationalism and populist movements.<\/p>\n
More conventionally, he\u2019s stressed steps taken to instill greater discipline among party members and shoring up party authority in meetings with guests as varied as Singapore\u2019s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Vietnam\u2019s Communist Party chief and Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese reforms demonstrated the confidence of society with the (party) Central Committee,\u201d Wang told Vietnam\u2019s Nguyen Pho Trong last year.<\/p>\n
Despite such anodyne declarations, Wang\u2019s intelligence, personality and drive leave a definite impression. One much-circulated photo shows him with former President Barack Obama smiling and holding a basketball as if taking a lesson on how to shoot baskets.<\/p>\n
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pointed to the former academic\u2019s knowledge of history and his \u201cdecisive and inquisitive nature,\u201d along with his boldness in overcoming obstacles.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe takes on challenges, does things that have never been done before and succeeds,\u201d Paulson wrote for Time Magazine\u2019s Most Influential People of 2009. Wang also exhibits a \u201cwicked sense of humor,\u201d Paulson wrote.<\/p>\n
In addition to grappling with corruption, Wang is also expected to capitalize on his experience leading regular exchanges with the U.S. to help guide policy with Washington in the uncertain age of Trump. An early test may be his ability to head off a trade war with the U.S., said Beijing commentator Zhang Lifan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know he is good at finance and the economy and regarded as a troubleshooter, but it is questionable,\u201d Zhang said.<\/p>\n
The removal of term limits that allows Xi to rule as long as he wishes will also allow Wang to be his vice president indefinitely. With no children and no political dynasty of his own to shape, Wang seems fully committed to being in the thick of Chinese politics.<\/p>\n
Tsang, however, questions whether that\u2019s a gamble worth taking for either Wang or Xi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wang Qishan is known as China\u2019s \u201cMr. Fix-It,\u201d a trustworthy official deployed to tackle the thorniest of crises \u2014 from crumbling banks to deadly illness to high-level corruption. Those who\u2019ve met him describe him as bold and probing, a problem solver who enjoys philosophical debates and has a \u201cwicked sense of humor.\u201d As China\u2019s vice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25127,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25125\/revisions\/25127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}