Wu Bangguo
Updated: 2004-06-25 13:44
Wu Bangguo was elected chairman of the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress (NPC) yesterday to succeed former Chairman Li Peng as the
leader of the standing committee of China's supreme State power.
 Reviewing the history of his career, Wu Bangguo has already served as a
State-owned enterprise technician, factory director and manager to provincial
and municipal leading members and now as a State leader.
Born in 1941, Wu's family comes from Feidong in Anhui province. After
graduating from the Radio Electronics Department of Tsinghua University in 1967,
he was assigned to work at the Shanghai No 3 Electron Tube Factory as an
operator, potter and furnaceman, toiling day and night with ordinary workers.
Until assuming his post as a standing committee member of the Shanghai Municipal
Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), his five-member,
three-generation family had been living in an 11-square metre apartment room.
Such hard working and living experiences have enabled him to develop strong
feelings for ordinary people. He has developed a work style of handling concrete
matters concerning people at the grassroots in a down to earth way, and is
always ready to communicate with the people. After becoming the secretary of the
CPC Municipal Committee of Shanghai, the country's largest municipality, local
residents affectionately called him the "secretary of the common people.''
Since 1978, Wu Bangguo has served as deputy manager of the Shanghai
Electronic Elements Company, deputy manager of the Shanghai Electron Tube
Company, and deputy Party secretary of the Shanghai Instruments and Meters and
Telecommunications Industrial Bureau.
In early 1983, Wu, turning 42, became a Standing Committee member of the CPC
Shanghai Municipal Committee and concurrently Party secretary of the Shanghai
Science and Technology Work Committee. In 1985, he assumed the position of
deputy secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, assisting the work of
Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji.
From March 1991 to September 1994, Wu was secretary of CPC Shanghai Municipal
Committee. He inherited the basic thoughts of Jiang Zemin and other former
leaders of Shanghai, and, on the basis of the good foundations laid by his
predecessors, he seized the opportunities resulting from the important speech
made by late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping during his trip to southern China on
the opportunities for the development of Pudong, and scored the goal of
"bringing about great changes in Shanghai within three years'' set out by Deng
Xiaoping under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Jiang Zemin at
the core and with the CPC Central Committee's support.
During this period, he always bore in mind issues concerning the people, such
as inadequate toilet and heating facilities, and raised funds through land
leasing and other means to solve the city's housing shortage.
In October 1992, having been a CPC member for 28 years, Wu was elected a
member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee at the First Plenary
Session of the 14th CPC National Congress, and became a member of the
Secretariat of the Central Committee of the CPC and was transferred to work in
the central leadership. In the following March, he was appointed vice-premier of
the State Council, becoming involved in decision-making and managing major Party
and State issues.
In September 1997, he was re-elected as a member of the Political Bureau of
the CPC Central Committee at the First Plenary Session of the 15th CPC National
Congress, and appointed for another term as vice-premier in March 1998.
For a long period of time, Wu took charge of work in economics and trade,
transport and communications, energy, information industry, national defence
industry, labour and social security, production safety and the Three Gorges
Project. He also served concurrently as secretary of the Central Work Committee
of Large Enterprises.
During his eight-year tenure as vice-premier, Wu scrupulously stuck to his
commitment of "serving the grassroots, doing practical and substantial things
for the people, never seeking any personal gain, never being lazy, and never
evading responsibility,'' and had always been dedicated to his work. His 16-year
work experience in State-owned enterprises (SOEs) enabled him to deeply
understand the advantages and disadvantages of SOEs which hold a dominant
position in Chinese economy.
It was the most difficult period for China's SOEs in the first few years when
he assumed the duty of supervising work concerning their development. In 1998,
the aggregate profit of all State-owned and State-controlled industrial
enterprises hit a historical low of 52.5 billion yuan (US$6.3 billion).
Wu conducted a great amount of research and study in order to save the SOEs
through reform and development. Over a few years, he left his footprints in more
than 80 per cent of China's oil and gas fields, inspected all of the SOEs which
are critical to national economy and the people's livelihood, and went down coal
mines almost every year.
In 1999, he accompanied CPC General Secretary Jiang
Zemin on investigative and research trips to various localities throughout the
country to find ways to help invigorate large and medium-sized SOEs, which
contributed to the formulation of the decisions by the CPC Central Committee on
some major issues on the reform and development of SOEs.
He resolutely carried out directives from the CPC Central Committee and
focused on the work of turning losses into profits and getting rid of various
industries' difficulties. With a concerted national effort, directed by the
central leadership, the aggregate profit of State-owned and State-controlled
enterprises reached 240.8 billion yuan (US$29 billion) by 2000, which quadrupled
SOEs' profits in just three years, fulfilling the three-year target for SOEs as
scheduled for them to get rid of difficulties through reforms. In 2002 the
figure reached 263.6 billion yuan (US$31.8 billion), a record high for three
consecutive years. To accomplish these achievements, Wu had made painstaking
efforts and spent many sleepless nights.
Wu is deeply concerned about the needs of working people and their well-being
is his priority. He went to those under-resourced mines, military and civil
industrial enterprises in outlying mountains and deep forests, and visited
families of needy workers and miners. When formulating policies and giving
guidance, the first thing he takes into account is how to ensure that laid-off
and retired workers can receive their basic living allowances or pensions in
full and on time, and how to guarantee that poorer urban residents are ensured
basic living standards.
He deeply understands what Jiang Zemin meant by saying that "employment is
the foundation of people's livelihood.'' As a result, he once again led the
heads of a dozen central government departments on special-topic investigative
tours last year of five provinces and municipalities in an effort to promote
re-employment, thus contributing to the formulation of China's first pro-active
employment policy.
In November 2002, Wu was elected a member of the Standing Committee of the
Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and became a member of the new
generation of the collective central leadership. Since then, he has been even
busier with his work than ever before. Over the brief period between December 28
to 31 last year, he was seen conferring with leaders of some large enterprises
on the SOE reform, hearing reports from the Ministry of Railways, going to the
launching site of the Shenzhou No 4 Spaceship, and chairing a meeting of the
State Council's Safety Production Committee. All this indicates that he is a
diligent and pragmatic leader who works hard and efficiently.
Moreover, Wu makes strict demands of his children and other family members.
When his son and daughter were at school and started to work, no one knew who
their father was, except for a few classmates or colleagues. He is highly
principled with his staff and has deep feelings for them.
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