Personnel signals behind the mayor's inter-provincial appointment as deputy governor
"China News Weekly" reporter / Zhou Qunfeng
Published in the 960th issue of China News Weekly on August 17, 2020
Since the beginning of this year, the mayor of a prefecture-level city has been appointed as the deputy governor across the provinces. On July 31, Cao Lijun, the mayor of Changde City, Hunan Province, became the deputy governor of Sichuan Province. According to incomplete statistics, Cao Lijun's new appointment has become the fifth case in less than four months when the mayor of a prefecture-level city is appointed as the deputy governor of the province. In July alone, there were three, and they all became the youngest vice-governor of the province.
Previously, such personnel arrangements were very rare. Zhuang Deshui, deputy director of Peking University's Research Center for Integrity Construction, believes that for a long time, the candidates for vice governor have mainly come from prefecture-level cities in the province. Now this kind of personnel arrangement is conducive to the cultivation, use and competition of talents, and has an incentive effect.
The interviewed experts generally believe that behind the breaking of conventions, there are considerations for identifying, training and reserving higher-level officials. This phenomenon may become the norm in the future.
5 The youngest vice governor of the province with per capita cost
On April 9, 2020, at the 18th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th People's Congress of Heilongjiang Province, Li Yi was appointed as the Deputy Governor of the People's Government of Heilongjiang Province. Prior to this, Li Yi served as deputy secretary and mayor of Weinan Municipal Committee of Shaanxi Province. Since the transfer of a prefecture-level city mayor to a vice governor across provinces is rare, this transfer attracted public attention at the time.
According to incomplete statistics, after Li Yi, by the end of July, 4 people from prefecture-level city mayors cross-provincially served as vice governors: Adong, the former mayor of Sanya City, Hainan Province, and vice governor of Jilin Province on April 15. ; Former Mayor of Jingzhou City, Hubei Province, Cui Yonghui, served as Deputy Governor of Fujian Province on July 2; Former Mayor of Nanping City, Fujian Province Liu Hongjian, served as Vice Governor of Yunnan Province on July 29; Former Mayor of Changde City, Hunan Province Cao Lijun, July 31 He was appointed Vice Governor of Sichuan Province at sunrise.
"China News Weekly" checked the information on the government's official website and found that these five newly appointed vice governors were all born in the 70s. After taking office this time, they all became the youngest vice governors of the province. Among the above five people, except for Adong, the other four have never left the province before. This transfer became their first inter-provincial appointment.
The resumes show that they all have rich work resumes and their abilities have been affirmed. For example, Li Yi used to serve as the deputy head of Daminggong Township, Weiyang District, Xi'an, and the county magistrate of Lantian County. In March 2009, when he was the secretary of Lantian County Party Committee, he was the youngest county Party secretary in Xi'an at that time. In March 2018, he became the mayor of Weinan City, becoming the first “post-70s” prefecture-level city mayor among the 10 prefecture-level cities in Shaanxi at that time.
After graduating from a PhD student in Human Geography in the Department of Urban and Environmental Sciences of Peking University in 1997, Adong worked in the State Oceanic Administration for nearly 20 years (during which he was appointed as the deputy secretary of the Guixi Municipal Committee of Jiangxi Province). In January 2016, he retired from the country. Director of the Department of Policy, Legal System and Island Rights of the Bureau of Oceanography, was transferred to Sansha City, the southernmost and least populated prefecture-level city in China, and served as Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee. In July 2017, he served as mayor of Sansha City.
Cao Lijun has served as a staff member of the Secretary of the Changsha Municipal Government General Office, deputy director of the Changsha Municipal Government General Office, director of the Changsha Bureau of Letters and Calls, the mayor of Tianxin District, the mayor of Liuyang, and the deputy mayor of Changsha.
Many people have had a history of public election promotion before. For example, Cui Yonghui has served as Deputy District Chief of Maojian District, Shiyan City, Minister of Organization of Danjiangkou Municipal Party Committee, Deputy Director of Hubei Provincial Audit Department, Secretary of Party Working Committee of Huanggang Economic Development Zone, Director of Municipal Urban Investment Company, Deputy Secretary of Jingzhou Municipal Committee, Political and Legal Committee Secretary etc. In 2009, Cui Yonghui, who was 39 years old at the time, was promoted to the deputy department level through a public election and became the deputy director of the Audit Office.
Liu Hongjian, served as Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Qianqi Town, Fuding City, Fujian Province, Director of the Management Committee of Long'an Development Zone of Fuding City, Director of the Office of the Fuding Municipal Party Committee, Director of the Tourism Bureau of Fuding City, Member of the Standing Committee of the Xiapu County Party Committee, and Deputy County Head . In September 2012, in accordance with the "Announcement on the Public Selection of Young Leading Cadres in Fujian Province in 2012", Liu Hongjian became the deputy general manager of Fujian China Travel Service Group.
Pay more attention to the selection of local senior officials
Wang Minggao, the chief expert of the Hunan Provincial Integrity Think Tank, served in the Organization Department of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee for about 20 years and participated in the selection of a large number of cadres. He told China News Weekly that previous prefecture-level city mayors, especially the mayors of ordinary prefecture-level cities, served as vice governors across provinces. “During my work in the Organization Department of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, the mayor was promoted to There is only one deputy governor, and there is no inter-province."
He believes that there are more and more cases of prefecture-level city mayors becoming vice governors across provinces, indicating that the channels for appointing candidates are more diversified, and that prefecture-level city mayors can also see more channels for promotion, which helps Inspire their enthusiasm for work.
Zhuang Deshui also believes that with this kind of personnel arrangement, breaking the convention, prefecture-level city officials will realize that as long as they can achieve political achievements, there will be more diversified development space.
According to Zhuang Deshui's analysis, after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the selection of party members and cadres has become more flexible and diversified in many aspects: for example, after entering the "second-line" departments such as the CPPCC or the National People's Congress, they may also be employed in important positions; discipline inspection cadres can also be appointed. Important positions in the party and government departments; nowadays, more and more ordinary prefecture-level city mayors are intensively serving as deputy governors across provinces. "These series of unconventional practices in selecting and appointing people have positive significance for purifying the political ecology of officialdom and motivating the passion of cadres and executives for entrepreneurship."
The interviewed experts generally believe that behind the breaking of conventions, there are considerations for identifying, training and reserving higher-level officials. Zhuang Deshui told China News Weekly that from the perspective of the selection and appointment mechanism of cadres, in order to enhance officials’ understanding of the central government’s policies, central cadres have had frequent exchanges with local cadres in recent years. In terms of effectiveness, this mechanism has been implemented very well. During this period, there have been many cases of prefecture-level city mayors serving as deputy governors across provinces, which shows that the central government now attaches great importance to the inspection and selection of high-level local officials and hopes to give prefecture-level city mayors more space to display their talents.
Wang Minggao said that now the selection of cadres pays more attention to "from all corners of the world", especially now that the epidemic and overseas situations are causing pressure on domestic economic development, it is even more necessary to train a group of outstanding, capable, moral and capable cadres. "These cadres are all born in the 70s, they are in their prime, and they are also key reserve cadres for training."
Wang Minggao believes that for a long time, in some places, the top leaders have too much power and nepotism. The method of selecting cadres is not "horse racing", but focusing on the nomination of top leaders. Some outstanding and accomplished officials have not been able to reuse their time, and their personal enthusiasm has been undermined. "From my work experience in the Organization Department of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, many officials still have opinions on the practice of focusing on the nomination of top leaders. "
He believes that after these people take up positions across provinces, the disadvantage is that they are unfamiliar with the new province and need more study and research. The advantage is that they can better start their own businesses. "I have worked in this province for a long time. There are many old colleagues, old friends, and old leaders. Human relations and interests are very involved. If you want to start a business, you will be subject to a lot of constraints. After crossing provinces, this factor will be greatly diluted. Will be disturbed by those human affairs."
China News Weekly, Issue 30, 2020
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