What will Wang Qishan Do?

CHINA FINANCIAL - In Brief 31 Aug 2017 by Michael Pettis
If the rumors are true that Wang Qishan will retire for health reasons, and will have no role, either in the Standing Committee or in a Leading Group, it would not represent, in my opinion, good news for China's economic adjustment. This will in the best of cases be a brutally difficult process and Wang is one of the few people in China with his very high level of credibility, the relationship with the president, the relationships with the the individuals that must carry out the main finance-related reforms, and the understanding of banking and finance, especially bad debt. It was never going to be easy to implement the reforms Xi must implement, and which he can only do if he has sufficiently centralized power, and Wang was probably the most competent person to lead the process. Balanced against these positives is that he is loathed by an awful lot of very powerful people because of his role leading the anti-corruption campaign. Inevitably, if the rumors are true, people will be asking if his retirement really has to do with poor health, or if it represents either a setback for the president or a confirmation of rumors several months ago (although they quickly enough disappeared) that Xi had political concerns about Wang. I have no way of telling, but will report any credible news as I hear it.

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