Tibet: the Next Gen has Arrived

A Next Gen of Developers?

During the week between February 19 and 25, a flurry of new appointments took place in China. Interestingly, several young officials of state-owned enterprises were sent to the regional governments to take up senior positions.
In the Central Ministries, The Dazhong Daily, based in Shandong Province mentioned a few:

• Wang Zhengpu, Party Secretary and Director of the National Rural Revitalization Bureau
• Ye Min, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and Director of the National Nuclear Safety Administration
• Zhang Xiaohong appointed Deputy Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development
• Wang Zhiqing, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Transport
• Ni Yuewei, Deputy Director of China Earthquake Administration

While in Provinces and Cities/Prefectures:

• Hu Changsheng was elected governor of Heilongjiang Province
• Jiao Yanlong and Xing Guohui were elected deputy directors of the Standing Committee of the Hebei Provincial People's Congress
• Zhang Guohua and Yan Pengcheng, Vice Governors of Hebei Province
• Han Lihua and Qu Min elected as vice chairmen of the Heilongjiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference
• Duan Ying appointed Director of the Yunnan Provincial Investment Promotion Bureau

Many heads of state-owned enterprises appeared in the regional governments. To give a couple of examples:

• On February 26, the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Congress appointed Zhang Wei as the deputy mayor of Shanghai. Prior to this, Zhang Wei had served as the deputy general manager of China COSCO Shipping Group Co., Ltd.
• On February 20, the Standing Committee of Shanxi Provincial People's Congress appointed Wei Tao as the vice governor of Shanxi Provincial Government.
  Wei Tao (Zhuang nationality), born in April 1970 in Luocheng, Guangxi, previously served as director of the iron-making plant of Liuzhou Iron and Steel Co Ltd and then Party Secretary and Chairman of Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group. Appointed deputy governor of Shanxi Province, Wei Tao. Shanxi has now two ‘post-70s’ Vice Governors, and the other is Lu Dongliang, born in December 1973.

The youngest senior Communist cadre in China
On February 23, the Yunnan Provincial Government issued a ‘Notice on Comrade Duan Ying's Appointment’; the young lady was appointed as the Director of the Provincial Investment Promotion Bureau.
Duan Ying is from Yi nationality; she is born in October 1982, she has a master's degree and of course, a member of the Communist Party of China. She started working in September 2004.

The promotions/transfers continued in March and April.

New Appointments in Tibet
According to Caixin.com, Tibet is the perfect stage for the growth of young cadres. 

The Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) has a record three ‘post 70-born’ cadres serving as TAR Vice Governors.
On April 22, Wang Yong, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Guizhou Province, was promoted as vice chairman of the TAR Government (equivalent to Vice Governor).
According to The Tibet Daily, on April 22, the TAR Standing Committee of the Eleventh People's Congress passed a resolution to appoint Wang Yong to his new post; he became the third ‘post-70s’ vice chairmen after Ren Wei and Phurbu Thondup.
The youngest is Ren Wei, born in May 1976 and the only high-ranking Tibetan ‘post-70s’ official is Phurbu Thondup, who is concurrently serves as Party Secretary of the Chamdo Municipal Party Committee.
Both Phurbu and Ren Wei have also recently taken over.
While Ren Wei and Wang Yong were ‘parachuted’ in the so-called Autonomous Region, while Phurbu served earlier in Tibet in Shannan/Lhoka Prefecture.
Interesting Ren Wei comes from the power sector and previously served as the deputy general manager of the Datang Group. We shall come back to it.

As an indication of what the Chinese Government is planning for the years ahead, I am giving the resumés of the three new Vice Governors.

Wang Yong

Wang Yong Resumé
Wang Yong was born in March 1971, he graduated from Sichuan University in 1991. 

Soon after, he joined the Southwest Civil Aviation Administration of Civil Aviation; he later became Deputy Director and Director of the Planning Division, Director of the Planning and Statistics Division, and Director of the Policy and Regulation Division.
In 2011, Wang Yong was transferred to the Director of the Guizhou Safety Supervision Bureau of Civil Aviation of China, where he served for 4 years. In 2015, Wang Yong served as the deputy general manager of Guizhou Airport Group Co., Ltd and at the same time served as the vice chairman, general manager and party secretary of Guizhou Airport Construction Investment Co Ltd
In 2016, he was the chairman of Guizhou Airport Group Co Ltd and concurrently served as the chairman, general manager and party secretary of Guizhou Airport Construction Investment Co Ltd.
In 2018, he was chairman and party secretary of Guizhou Airport Group Co., Ltd.
In 2019, Wang Yong became the director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Guizhou Province.
The skills of Wang Yong will undoubtedly used to manage the 14th Five-Year Plan and developmental issues on the plateau. 

Phurbu Thondup

Phurbu Thondup Resumé
Phurbu Thondup, also a TAR Vice Governor, concurrently serves as Secretary of the Chamdo Municipal Committee, where he replaces Abu, from the Hui nationality who has been given another appointment in Lhasa.
Phurbu Thondup, male, Tibetan, born in November 1972 is a native of Gyantse, Tibet.
He joined the Communist Party of China in January 1996 and the work force in July 1996 after a postgraduate degree.

• 1991.09-1996.07: Tibetan language and literature major in the Department of Tibetan Language and Literature, Tibet University
• 1996.07-1999.03: a member of the Organization Department of the Organization Department of the Party Committee. (during this period, he was trained in poverty alleviation in Thankya Township, Meldro Gungkar County)
• 1999.03-2000.11: Deputy Director of the Organization Department of the Organization Department of the TAR
• 2000.11-2002.08: Director of the Organization Department of the Organization Department of the TAR Party Committee. (during the period, he was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Thankya Township, Meldro Gungkar County)
• 2002.08-2002.10: candidate for deputy head of Sangri County in Lhoka/Shannan Prefecture
• 2002.10-2003.07: Deputy County Chief of Sangri County Government.
• 2003.07-2004.09: Member of the Standing Committee of Sangri County Party Committee and Deputy County Head
• 2004.09-2005.02: Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Sangri County and Deputy County Mayor
• 2005.02-2005.04: Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Sangri County, candidate for the county head of the government
• 2005.04-2010.10: Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Sangri County, (during this period, he studied at the Sichuan Business Administration Institute of Business Administration major).
• 2010.10-2012.04: Member of the Party Group and Deputy Commissioner of the Administrative Office of Shannan (Lhoka)
• 2012.04-2012.06: Member and Secretary-General of Shannan Prefecture Committee.
• 2012.06-2013.08: Member of the Standing Committee of the Lhasa Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Chengguan District Party Committee in Lanzhou Province.
• 2013.08-2014.02: Deputy Secretary of the Nagchu Prefectural Committee
• 2014.02-2015.06: Deputy Secretary of the Nagchu Prefectural Committee and Director of the Organization Department
• 2015.06-2016.05: Deputy Secretary of the Shannan (Lhoka) Prefectural Committee, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Commissioner of the Shannan Administrative Office
• 2016.05—2020.06: Deputy Secretary of the Shannan Municipal Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Mayor of the Municipal Government
• 2020.06-2020.12: Vice Chairman of the TAR People's Government
• 2020.12: Concurrently serving as Secretary of the Chamdo Municipal Committee.

Ren Wei

Ren Wei Resuné
The third new Vice Governor and the youngest (he is 45 year-old) is Ren Wei, also like Wang Yong, coming from the industry.
According to The Tibet Daily, on April 8, the TAR Standing Committee of the Eleventh People’s Congress passed a resolution to appoint Ren Wei as the vice chairman of the TAR People’s Government.
Ren Wei, male, Han nationality, was born in May 1976 in Qishan, Shaanxi.
He joined the Communist Party of China in June 1997 and started work in July 2003. He has a doctoral degree.

• 1993.09-1998.09: Tsinghua University Thermal Energy Engineering major
• 1998.09-2003.07: Tsinghua University, PhD student majoring in thermal energy and power
• 2003.07-2007.07 Senior Project Manager, Commissioning Department, China Guodian Corporation Beijing Guodian Longyuan Environmental Engineering Co Ltd
• 2007.07-2008.10: Senior Business Manager, Planning and Development Department, Guodian Technology and Environmental Protection Group Co Ltd, China Guodian Corporation
• 2008.10-2009.11: Deputy Manager of the Planning and Development Department of China Guodian Group Guodian Technology and Environmental Protection Group Co Ltd
• 2009.11-2016.05: Secretary of the Youth League Committee and Deputy Director of the Political Work Department of China Guodian Corporation
• 2016.05-2017.01: Secretary of the Party Leadership Group, Deputy General Manager, and Leader of the Discipline Inspection Group of China Guodian Corporation Tibet Branch
• 2017.01-2018.05: Secretary of the Party Committee, Deputy General Manager and Secretary of the Disciplinary Committee of China Guodian Corporation Tibet Branch
• 2018.05-2018.08: Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of China Guodian Corporation Tibet Branch
• 2018.08-2020.03: Deputy General Manager and Party Leadership Group Member of China Datang Group Co Ltd
•  2020.04: Vice Chairman of the People's Government of Tibet Autonomous Region

What is the Datang Corporation?
It is interesting to understand the background of Ren Wei.
Datang is one of the five large-scale power generation enterprises in the China, established on the basis of former State Power Corporation of China in 2002.
It is a solely state-owned enterprise directly managed by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) and is the experimental state-authorized investment and state shareholding enterprise ratified by the State Council.
Datang International Power Generation Company Limited or simply Datang International Power or Datang Power, is one of the five largest state-owned power producers in China, especially its position in Northern China. It is engaged in the development and operation of power plants, the sale of electricity and thermal power, and the repair and maintenance of power equipment and power-related technical services.
Datang Power owns four operating power plants and managed 17 power companies, with total installed capacity amounted to 15,410 megawatts (MW) at the end of mid-2006.
Ren Wei’s job is clearly cut: he will be responsible for the mega (giga) hydropower plants in Tibet, particularly the one in the Great Bent of the Yarlung Tsangpo.
What is most worrying is that China’s neighbours seem to be sleeping at a time Beijing is bringing fresh and ‘expert’ blood on the plateau.