HONG
KONG - A key figure was missing from the two-day
Central Conference on Financial Affairs that ended
last Saturday. Huang Ju, who ranks sixth on the
nine-member standing committee of the Politburo,
is in charge of China's financial affairs.
It was reported that Huang has handed over
his power overseeing financial affairs to Prime
Minister Wen Jiabao. It will be revealing if
Huang, who is a key member of the Shanghai clique
headed by former president Jiang Zemin, has in
fact lost his power ahead of
the
Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's)17th National
Congress this autumn.
Huang supposedly
dropped his official functions due to worsening
health, reported the Hong Kong Economic Times. Wen
takes charge of financial affairs with the
assistance of Huang Jianmin, general secretary of
the State Council.
Earlier, the top
echelon in Beijing had permitted Huang Ju to
excuse himself from routine meetings. But health
permitting, he was supposed to preside over
meetings concerning affairs that were under his
direct charge. Therefore, his absence from the
financial conference of which he is in charge,
indicates that either his health - or his
political health - has reached a critical state.
The ailing vice premier, who reportedly
suffers from pancreatic cancer, began to retire
from public view a year ago. He was notably absent
at the annual sessions of the National People's
Congress, China's parliament, and the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference in
March, 2006. He did not show up at the opening
ceremony of a conference co-sponsored by the
Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of
Engineering.
On November 21, Huang met
with Charles Goode, chairman of the Australia and
New Zealand Banking Group. His last public
appearance was at the State-Owned Enterprise (SOE)
executives' conference on January 5, which is
construed by some analysts to show that at the
time he was still the top helmsman of financial
and SOE affairs.
Then, is it likely that
Huang's health had deteriorated so rapidly that in
a fortnight he became too weak to attend a much
more important meeting and to hold onto his power?
In the CCP, power handover is an extremely
sensitive thing. There are few, if any, examples
of any high-ranking leader willingly surrendering
power. And poor health would be the last thing to
make them do so. Even though gravely ill, they
would hang on until their last breath to protect
their political faction or pass on the torch to
favorite successors.
Former Chinese
leaders such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai never
gave up power, even when they were on their death
beds. In the post-Mao era, many ailing Politburo
members died during their terms. In the CCP's
history, high-ranking officials lose power mainly
because of their political "incorrectness" instead
of their health.
In 1993, the then premier
Li Peng was not happy with paramount leader Deng
Xiaoping's instructions on furthering economic
reform so he pretended to be ill. An angry Deng
ordered Li give up his power overseeing economic
affairs, delegating the responsibility to Zhu
Rongji, then a vice premier.
In 1999, Zhu
embarked on a formal visit to the United States,
but failed to strike the World Trade Organization
entry deal with then US president Bill Clinton.
And no sooner had he returned home than the
Chinese Embassy in Belgrade was bombed by the US
Air Force. Zhu was blamed for fawning on
Washington, and former president Jiang Zemin
seized on the opportunity to deprive Zhu of his
duty of overseeing financial and SOE affairs.
Thus, there are good reasons for many
analysts to believe that Huang's being politically
marginalized has more to do with his political
misconduct than with his health. But what kind of
misdeeds or mistakes? The past two weeks have
provided some clues.
The CCP's Central
Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI),
China's top anti-graft watchdog, held its Seventh
plenary session on January 8, just two days after
Huang delivered a key-note speech at the SOE
executives' conference. The CCDI announced the
latest findings in its investigations into several
charges against the ousted Shanghai CCP chief,
Chen Liangyu, widely seen as a protege of Huang
and Jiang.
And recently, Shanghai tycoon
Zhou Zhengyi was arrested again on charges of
financial irregularities and offering bribes to
officials. Zhou's arrest is believed to be related
to Chen's corruption case. More than 50 Shanghai
officials have also been sacked and put under
investigation. His losing power must be seen in
this context. Has he cut a deal to quit rather
than face prosecution?
Recently, the
Beijing Cai Jing magazine exposed a scandal
involving huge losses of state assets. According
to the magazine, Shandong Luneng Group, a mega-SOE
with total assets of more than 73.8 billion yuan
(US$9.5 billion), has recently undertaken a
restructuring for privatization. Its ownership was
transferred, at an unbelievably low price of 3.7
billion yuan, to two Beijing-based private
companies through a chain of complex equity sales.
Pulling strings behind the deal were believed to
be two offspring of some top-ranking officials.
But the Luneng case is just the tip of the
iceberg. Losses of state assets like this are
conservatively estimated to be at least 100
billion yuan each year. In addition, since 2002
when Huang was put in charge, there have been more
than a dozen big corruption cases, each involving
more than 100 million yuan, in the banking sector
every year. As China's top man in charge of
financial and SOE affairs, Huang definitely should
take responsibility for these scandals.
On
Wednesday, chinesenewsnet.com, a Chinese-language
online news website based in the US, reported that
Wang Weigong, director of Huang's office, had been
sacked and put under investigation for suspected
corruption, further indicating Huang's fall into
disgrace. However, the report could not be
immediately confirmed.
Of course, if Huang
still had strong backing, he would not have had to
surrender. His losing his power, as well as the
disgrace of Chen, suggests his boss, Jiang, is no
longer capable of protecting his proteges. With
Hung's downfall, the collapse of the Shanghai
clique can be expected, paving the way for the
coming of President Hu Jintao's era after the
party's 17th National Congress this autumn - Hu is
also party boss.
Poon Siu-to is
a Hong Kong-based freelance writer for the
Chinese-language edition of Asia Times Online.
(Copyright 2007 Asia Times Online Ltd. All
rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
