Wang Huning - from Shanghai Scholar to China’s Top Policymaker
Author: Shangwei Wu
On September 11th, Wang Huning, a Politburo standing committee member and the CCP's leading ideologist, was appointed as the chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (CCPPNR). The appointment of Wang has given spectators a good opportunity to poke into the organizational structure of the CCP’s central subdivisions and personal backgrounds of a Politburo member who is one of the most powerful politicians in China.
The CCPPNR is a subdivision of the CCP’s United Front Work Department which is responsible for intelligence gathering and influence campaigns from China’s elite individuals and organizations at home and abroad. The CCPPNR was established in 1988 to promote Taiwan’s unification under Chinese control and has opened chapters around the world, actively supporting Chinese and pro-China political candidates overseas.
Wang Huning, a Shanghai native, spent the majority of his early working life in academia. He became China's youngest associate professor at the age of 29 at Fudan University and was tasked with directing the institution's School of International Politics and Law. His political career began in 1995, when he was referred by top Shanghainese politicians to assume leadership positions at the Central Policy Research Office. Since then, Wang has been tasked with generating key political doctrines of CCP General secretaries: from Jiang's Three Represents to Hu's Scientific Outlook on Development and finally Xi Jinping’s thoughts, Wang has been at the root of many of China’s key political doctrines. In 2002, he was admitted into the CCP central committee. In 2012, he was promoted into the Politburo’s Standing Committee and remained a member until today. After the CCP's 20th Congress in October 2022, Wang was selected as Chairman of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and was named deputy leader of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs. The Leading Groups are small, provisional commissions in the CCP's central committee that oversees and directs works in a specific area. Under this scenario, the Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs is in charge of instructing China's governmental departments on Taiwan-related policy making.
Wang’s appointment of the Chairman of CCPPNR was intentional, as his deputy position in the Central Leading Group demanded his influence and management over other Taiwan-centered government organizations. As a Politburo Standing Committee member, his entrance into Taiwan-related policymaking is an essential step of the new Politburo's centralization process after the 20th CCP Congress, where centralization has been repeatedly emphasized by the party. In the foreseeable future, Wang’s participation and ideology will be apparent in the upcoming Taiwan-related policies and guiding principles. With his past theoretical work records in the CCP, it will not be surprising to see an overarching doctrine on Taiwan from Wang within the next few years.
