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FM AMCONSUL SHENYANG
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INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SHENYANG 000045 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/08/2028 
TAGS: PGOV PINR ECON CH
SUBJECT: NORTHEAST CHINA LEADERS TO WATCH (PT. 2): 
HEILONGJIANG PROVINCE UNDER NEW PARTY SECRETARY JI BINGXUAN 
 
REF: A. (A) SHENYANG 44 
     ¶B. (B) SHENYANG 19 
 
Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL STEPHEN B. WICKMAN. 
REASONS: 1.4 (b/d). 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Northeast China is home to a number of 
promising, up-and-coming officials worth watching as they 
seek to prove their political mettle in "revitalizing" this 
strategic corner of the PRC.  Communist Youth League 
lineages remain a common denominator in most, but not all, 
profilees.  Yesterday's sudden appointment of a national 
propaganda impresario as Party Secretary of Heilongjiang 
means that all three of Northeast China's governorships and 
one of its three party-chief slots are occupied by Youth 
Leaguers.  Working under new Party Secretary Ji Bingxuan 
are a number of Heilongjiang officials likely bound for 
more central pastures.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) This is the second in a two-part series on 
leadership dynamics in northeast China over the past year, 
with a particular emphasis on rising stars likely bound for 
higher--possibly national--office.  Part one (ref A) 
focused on Liaoning and Jilin provinces; this focuses on 
Heilongjiang Province. 
 
HEILONGJIANG: A FEW WORTH TRACKING 
---------------------------------- 
¶3. (C) ENTER JI BINGXUAN.  Still struggling with cleaning 
up the major corruption scandals that paralyzed the 
province only a few years ago, Heilongjiang Province until 
this week had experienced fairly moderate turnover at its 
highest levels over the past year.  A new governor emerged 
when ZHANG Zuoji, the 63-year-old former Minister of Labor- 
-whom provincial leaders claimed to us was in poor health, 
and whom we generally had found quite unimpressive--stepped 
down, ceding the position to LI Zhanshu.  (Zhang, well- 
regarded by Heilongjiang residents but allegedly scorned by 
Beijing for his role in publicizing the contamination of 
the Songhua River in 2005, engineered a bland sunset 
appointment in Beijing to cap his career.)  Party Secretary 
(PS) QIAN Yunlu, meanwhile, earned himself a vice 
chairmanship at the national Chinese People's Political 
Consultative Conference (CPPCC) during the recent round of 
national and provincial reshuffling, but for several months 
he had appeared unlikely to transfer to Beijing until 
reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65 in 2009. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Plans changed abruptly on April 7 when Beijing 
announced that Qian will be imminently replaced by JI 
Bingxuan, a 56-year-old, up-and-coming heavyweight who 
since 2403 has served as a propaganda impresario for Hu 
Jintao as Executive Deputy Director of the Central 
Committee's Publicity Department.  Starting in the early 
1980s Ji quickly burnished his credentials during nearly 
fifteen years in Henan Province in a variety of political 
postings, including as Secretary of Henan's Communist Youth 
League (CYL) and as a municipal PS during the peak of 
(future Politburo Standing Committee member and national 
propaganda chief) Li Changchun's career in the province. 
Following two years in the national CYL Secretariat and a 
stint in Jilin as provincial propaganda chief, Ji returned 
to Beijing in 1998, earning major postings over the next 
ten years in the State Administration of Radio, Film and 
Television and the Central Committee's propaganda arm. 
Some dubbed Ji "Director No" for his less-than-progressive 
views on media control, on display most prominently during 
the Party's 2006 crackdown on "Freezing Point," the China 
Youth Daily's envelope-pushing magazine supplement.  More 
of the same looks likely under Ji in conservative 
Heilongjiang, not known for its intrepid journalism. 
 
 
¶5. (C) LI ZHANSHU.  Following fifteen years at the 
administrative rank of vice governor, Heilongjiang Deputy 
Party Secretary Li Zhanshu regained his stride in 2007, 
replacing Zhang Zuoji as Governor in December.  Li has a 
compelling resume of functional executive experience in 
three provinces: Hebei, Shaanxi (where he served as Xi'an 
Party Secretary) and Heilongjiang (where from 2004 onward 
he worked his way up to Executive Vice Governor).  He 
headed Hebei's Youth League in the 1980s, but his CYL 
experience is more limited compared to other Youth Leaguers 
profiled here and in ref A.  Li did, however, tell us he 
once had the unwelcome distinction of leading the very 
first CYL delegation to the U.S. following Tiananmen. 
 
¶6. (C) Personally, we have found the generally 
unpretentious Li to blow hot and cold.  In his more 
relaxed, candid moments, he has queried us about U.S. 
 
SHENYANG 00000045  002 OF 002 
 
 
domestic politics and perceptions of China's leaders; he 
has also conceded that Heilongjiang's development is "too 
slow" and griped that Beijing is sucking away too much of 
the province's revenue stream (ref B).  Li claimed to us 
that while in Hebei during the 1990s, he developed a good 
working relationship with Li Keqiang (then posted to 
Henan), though the present status of this relationship is 
unclear.  At 58, Li is on the slightly older side compared 
to someone like Li Keqiang (and incoming PS Ji Bingxuan). 
With a number of years remaining before retirement, 
however, and given his multi-provincial experience and 
potentially useful political ties, we would not discount a 
modest further rise. 
 
¶7. (SBU) DU JIAHAO.  Replacing Li Zhanshu, one of 
Heilongjiang's biggest promotions over the past year 
involved another fast-riser from out of town: DU Jiahao, a 
52-year-old Youth Leaguer from East China who in late 2007 
catapulted from his post as Party Secretary of Shanghai's 
Pudong District--a showcase of the city's economic 
development--to Executive Vice Governor of Heilongjiang. 
(One explanation for the major promotion is the need to 
bring in new out-of-province blood to continue reforming 
Heilongjiang's leadership in the wake of massive corruption 
scandals that PS Qian Yunlu was brought in from Guizhou to 
mop up.)  Du rose through the ranks of the Shanghai 
municipal government in the 1980s and 1990s, eventually 
working his way up to become Secretary General of the 
Shanghai government in 2003 and finally, in 2004, PS of 
Pudong.  Du will be working with Li Zhanshu to prod along 
the "revitalization" of the province, which has finally 
started to pick up momentum in pursuit of front-runner 
Liaoning Province, even though massive challenges remain. 
Heilongjiang will be a major adjustment from Shanghai and 
should prove challenging for Du. 
 
¶8. (C) LONG XINNAN.  Another up-and-comer to watch is LONG 
Xinnan, who since 2005 has captained Heilongjiang's 
Organization Bureau, where he has played an influential 
role in doling out cadre assignments.  Turning 54 this 
year, Long is a "princeling"; he is the son of LONG Feihu, 
former deputy chief of the Fuzhou Military Command. 
Starting in the late 1970s, Long logged over two decades of 
central-level work in Beijing, eventually rising to head 
the personnel departments at both the State Development 
Planning Commission and the National Development and Reform 
Commission (NDRC) before moving to Heilongjiang in 2004. 
Though rumored at one point last year to be headed back to 
a high-level NDRC position in Beijing, contacts say he 
appears to be staying put for now.  We have found Long 
impressive and down-to-earth in meetings and expect he will 
continue his rise in Beijing following this stint in the 
provinces. 
 
¶9. (SBU) ZHANG XIAOLIAN.  At 43, Zhang Xiaolian--a plain- 
talking Youth Leaguer from Shandong and now Mayor of 
Harbin--is the youngest of the lot, and according to Harbin 
officials, the youngest mayor of a Chinese provincial 
capital.  Zhang's deep experience in the Beijing Youth 
League during the 1990s (during which he claims to have 
developed a good relationship with Li Keqiang, then head of 
the national CYL) served him well and quickly propelled him 
up the ranks of the Beijing municipal government through 
¶2005.  He then headed to Heilongjiang--part of a cohort of 
90 officials sent by the central government to help 
"revitalize" northeast China--where an assistantship to 
then-Governor Zhang Zuoji paid off, earning him the Party- 
chief slot in Mudanjiang od, in very short order, the job 
of Harbin Mayor in early 2007. 
 
¶10. (C) In private, we have found Zhang, who has studied 
abroad at Harvard, a polished, impressive figure who seems 
divorced in mindset from most provincial officials here. 
Zhang openly laments Heilongjiang's remoteness, claiming he 
has experienced trouble attracting talented officials to 
Harbin.  He brags that his Youth League background still 
serves him well when he comes to Beijing, earning him 
better treatment than that of a typical municipal mayor. 
One potential weakness may be his candor or, perhaps, ego; 
during one meal with us, he made subordinates clearly 
uncomfortable when regaling us with a joke whose butt was 
former Premier Li Peng.  Either way, Zhang looks set to 
continue his quick rise back in the central government once 
he wraps up his work in Heilongjiang, perhaps even after a 
new stint as a vice governor. 
WICKMAN