VZCZCXRO9152
RR RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
DE RUEHBJ #2857 1170928
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 270928Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7340
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEAEPA/HQ EPA WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 7508
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 7909
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 8236
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 2840
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 9284
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 6429

UNCLAS BEIJING 002857 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/ETC - A. COVINGTON 
STATE ALSO FOR OES/EGC/VALDEZ AND EAP/CM 
STATE ALSO FOR INR/B 
DOE FOR INTERNATIONAL/PUMPHREY 
USDOC FOR NOAA/OFFICE OF GLOBAL PROGRAMS 
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/OCEA - MCQUEEN 
EPA FOR INTERNATIONAL - NGUYEN AND CHENG 
STATE PASS TO CEQ CONNAUGHTON AND NSC PEEL 
TREASURY FOR OASIA/ISA - HAARSAGER, WINSHIP, CUSHMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV PREL ENRG KSCA PINR TSPL CH
SUBJECT: MOST MINISTER XU GUANHUA TO RETIRE; TONGJI UNIVERSITY 
PRESIDENT WAN GANG NAMED SUCCESSOR 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Xu Guanhua, Minister of Science and Technology, has 
retired and will be replaced by fifty-five year old automotive 
engineer and returnee Wan Gang, currently president of Tongji 
University in Shanghai. His appointment was approved by the Standing 
Committee of the National People's Congress today, April 27. 
Minister Wan, named President of Tongji University in 2004, was also 
the Dean of the New Fueled Automobile Engineering Center at Tongji 
University and is a member of the Chinese People's Political 
Consultative Conference. He is not a Communist Party member, having 
joined the "Public Interest Party" (Zhigongdang) in December 2005 
according to official media. 
 
¶2.  (U) Minister Wan received his doctorate in mechanical 
engineering at Technical University of Clausthal in Germany in 1990, 
and returned to China in 2000 following a career at Audi and guest 
professorships at Clausthal and Tongji.  Professor Wan's proposal to 
develop clean automobile technology as the basis for driving China's 
automotive industry forward led to his appointment by the Ministry 
of Science and Technology (MOST) as Chief Scientist and Group Leader 
of the 863 Key Electric Automobile Projects upon his return.  He 
took direct responsibility for developing the fuel cell sedan, the 
major part of the project, which was nominated as one of the "Ten 
Greatest Scientific and Technological Progresses of Chinese 
Universities in 2005". 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Professor Wan will be unique among China's current 
ministers as both a returnee and a member of the Public Interest 
Party, one of China's eight small "democratic parties" that "assist" 
the Communist Party and play a role in China's "united front" 
propaganda efforts.  Selection of a non-Communist Party member to be 
a minister may reflect the fact that there are no suitable Party 
candidates with the appropriate technical background at this rank. 
His selection may also be part of the Party's ongoing efforts, 
reported earlier this year in official media, to highlight the 
increasing number and seniority of non-Party officials in the 
government, thereby supposedly raising the technical proficiency of 
public servants and broadening the representation of Chinese society 
within the government. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) MOST ministers have historically been selected from the 
leadership of China's scientific and technical research institutes. 
In selecting a university president probably for the first time, 
China may be seeking to broaden MOST's influence over science and 
technology in academia.  In addition, selection of a returnee with 
extensive experience in private industry, an area of innovation 
where China particularly wants to strengthen capabilities, signals 
that MOST will continue to be heavily involved with innovation 
policy, including that in the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED). 
 
RANDT