China’s Vice-Minister of Finance Wang Baoan tipped to head National Bureau of Statistics
Current vice-minister of Finance Wang Baoan has been tipped by mainland media to lead the National Bureau Statistics of China (NBS) following the appointment of outgoing chief Ma Jiantang to a top government academy.
Ma has joined the Chinese Academy of Governance as executive vice-president, leaving room for Wang, the academy’s official website announced on Tuesday.
Wang, 52, began his career in the State Administration of Taxation before moving to the Ministry of Finance in 1998. He has held several positions at the ministry, including assistant minister of finance and director general of the economic construction department.
Reuters on Wednesday cited government sources as saying that Wang’s appointment could be announced “in the near term”.
He is currently a non-executive director of the China Investment Corporation.
A native of Henan province, Wang has also served as vice-governor of Heilongjiang.
Ma, who was head of the statistics bureau for nearly seven years, is a former vice-governor of Qinghai province. His predecessor, Xie Fuzhan, was then transferred to the head of the Research Office of the State Council. Xie is now governor of Henan.
Wang, as vice minister, has been pushing the public-private partnership (PPP) model of financing infrastructure projects.
In another reshuffle, Song Airong, a party official from Xinjiang in the country’s far west, has been moved to the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party, replacing Xu Hairong, the Chongqing Daily reported.
Song, 55, the vice-president of the Xinjiang CPC Central Committee, has been an official in the region since graduating from the Xinjiang Chemical School in 1981.
She has previously held such positions as deputy secretary of the Chemical Industry Office of Xinjiang and secretary of the Xinjiang CPC committee.
