Jiang protege eyes top post
A PROTEGE of President Jiang Zemin is expected to be made a vice-secretary of the party committee of Shenzhen.
The promotion of Huang Liman is among several major personnel changes that will be confirmed at the local party congress, which opened in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) yesterday.
Party Secretary Li Youwei is tipped to relinquish his position of mayor next month in favour of Vice-Party Secretary and Executive Vice-Mayor Li Zibin.
Sources close to the party's Organisation Department said Mr Li Youwei might be transferred to Yunnan as party secretary.
Vice-Mayor Li Ronggen, considered a rising star, will be promoted to executive vice-mayor next month.
Three vice-mayors, Lin Zuji, Zhang Hongyi and Li Chuanfang, will vacate their positions.
Mr Zhang, a veteran banker, has already been appointed a deputy general manager of the Hong Kong-based Nanyang Commercial Bank.
Mr Li Chuanfang, who was in charge of foreign trade, has been transferred to Hong Kong to head the Shenye Corp, a company owned by the Shenzhen municipality.
Political analysts in Shenzhen said yesterday that the large-scale reshuffle represented a 'gain in the influence of northerners'.
Ms Huang, who is Secretary-General of the Municipal Party Committee, worked with Mr Jiang in the Ministry of Electronics in the early 1980s.
'In her early 40s, Huang is Jiang's eyes and ears in Shenzhen,' said a Western diplomat in Guangzhou. 'She is considered a potential party chief of Shenzhen should Li Zibin move elsewhere in the late 1990s.' The Shenzhen analysts said that an estimated 40 per cent of senior municipal positions were filled by northerners.
Meanwhile, Mr Li Youwei is expected to discuss the SEZ's economic prospects during the congress.
The party boss will mount a defence against arguments in Beijing that Shenzhen has prospered at the expense of the hinterland.
In an article on the SEZ's development last Saturday, Mr Li deplored the fact that the Government still intervened with the management of enterprises. He admitted the Government had failed to anticipate the full impact of the market economy.
The lack of funds for infrastructure had weakened the SEZ's ability to prevent natural disasters and accidents, Mr Li said.
The problem was exposed by the severe fire and flood disasters in 1993.
Shenzhen also faces great pressure in maintaining law and order as two-thirds of the population is made up of migrant labourers. 'They are a major source of criminal offences,' he said.
In the party congress, Mr Li is expected to spell out how the SEZ's competitiveness will be enhanced through economic integration with Hong Kong.
