Has Hu Jintao's son been appointed deputy party secretary of Jiaxing?

Published: 2:45pm, 25 May 2013

Chinese media reports suggest Hu Haifeng, the son of China’s ex-President Hu Jintao, might have been appointed deputy party secretary of Jiaxing, a prefectural-level city in Zhejiang province.

Jiaxing Daily, the local government’s mouthpiece, reported on Friday that the city's deputy party secretary, a man named Hu Haifeng had, among a few other officials, accompanied Zhejiang’s deputy governor Wang Huizhong to visit industrial parks and factories on Thursday. News footage aired on the same day by Zhejiang Satellite TV showed the man, who bore a strong resemblance to the former head of state's son, sitting in on a meeting with fellow officials.

But as of Saturday, Hu’s name was missing from the city government’s official website, where the names of its party leaders are listed. The website was last updated on Friday.

Hu Haifeng, born in 1972, graduated with a degree in computer science from Beijing Jiaotong University and Executive MBA from Tsinghua University.

He had headed Nuctech, a Tsinghua University-owned company in the 1990s before being promoted to the Communist Party secretary of Tsinghua Holdings, according to media reports.

A younger-looking Hu Haifeng. Photo: screenshot via Weibo

In 2010, Hu was appointed the party secretary of the Yangtze Delta Region Institute of Tsinghua University, headquartered in Jiaxing, said reports.

The research organisation is a joint effort by Zhejiang’s provincial government and Tsinghua University, said its website.

It’s not clear if Hu has resigned from the Jiaxing institute.

Jiaxing Daily also reported in a May 23 article that the city's party secretary and other leaders including Hu Haifeng had visited the city's pig farmers.

Jiaxing government hasn’t replied an inquiry from the South China Morning Post.

China's state media recently revealed that the 28-year-old grandson of Deng Xiaoping has become a low level official in Guangxi Autonomous Region. Li Xiaopeng, the son of China's former premier Li Peng, was appointed acting governor of Shanxi province in December, a promotion widely seen as a result of the continued influence of his father.

The Communist Party's powerful Central Organisation Department, its top personnel management organ, has pledged earlier this month to apply a tougher yardstick to the exceptionally rapid promotion of cadres following a spate of nepotism controversies.

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