VZCZCXRO7390
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH
DE RUEHGZ #0361 1630848
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 120848Z JUN 09
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0682
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0519
RUEHGH/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0120
RUEHSH/AMCONSUL SHENYANG 0130
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0118
RUEHHK/AMCONSUL HONG KONG 0164
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0174
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC 0170

UNCLAS GUANGZHOU 000361 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV CH
SUBJECT: Suzhou Party Secretary Likely to be Named New Shenzhen 
Mayor 
 
Ref: A) GUANGZHOU 355 
 
¶1. Summary: Media reports from Hong Kong predict that Suzhou Party 
Secretary Wang Rong will become mayor of Shenzhen after the fall of 
Xu Zongheng due to corruption charges.  Some speculate Wang will 
soon move up to become the city's party secretary.  End summary. 
 
From Suzhou to Shenzhen 
----------------------- 
 
¶2.  Two Hong Kong newspapers -- one the Communist Party's mouthpiece 
there, Wen Wei Po -- reported that Jiangsu Province Standing 
Committee Member and Suzhou Municipal Party Secretary Wang Rong 
would fill the vacancy left by the removal of Shenzhen Mayor Xu 
Zongheng for alleged corruption (reftel).  Hong Kong newspaper Ming 
Pao also speculated that Wang would be appointed Guangdong Standing 
Committee Member concurrently with his mayoral position.  Xinhua 
announced today that Xu's official removal proceedings were 
underway. 
 
Mayor's Office Just a Springboard? 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  Wen Wei Po also cited an unnamed source in Shenzhen as 
speculating that Beijing really wants to make Wang Shenzhen party 
secretary, not mayor, potentially limiting Wang's tenure as mayor. 
Another Wen Wei Po source said Wang might encumber both party and 
administrative principal positions to remedy Shenzhen's history of 
friction between the two jobs. 
 
Vice Mayor Yan Apparently Survives 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  Vice Mayor Yan Xiaopei, who was also under investigation, 
appeared in an official meeting in Shenzhen yesterday, suggesting 
that she will not suffer the same fate as Xu. 
 
Biographic Information 
---------------------- 
 
¶5.  Wang is 51 and hails from Binhai, Jiangsu.  He has served as 
party secretary of Suzhou since 2004 and is also an alternate member 
of the CPC Central Committee.  Wang was the mayor and then party 
secretary of Wuxi from 2001 to 2003.  He became the director general 
of the Jiangsu Education Department in 2000, the deputy director 
general of the Jiangsu Agriculture Department and CPPCC Standing 
Committee member in 1999, and the president of the Jiangsu 
Agricultural Science Academy in 1997.  Wang spent much of his career 
in academic circles.  From 1988 to 1996, Wang served at Nanjing 
Agriculture University, ultimately attaining the post of vice 
president.  Wang received his bachelors, masters and doctoral 
degrees from Nanjing Agriculture College.   His research focused on 
rural resources economy and economic development theories and 
policies. 
 
GOLDBERG