New Guangdong Vice Governor to be Named

C O N F I D E N T I A L GUANGZHOU 001242 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/CM, INR/B E.O. 12958: DECL: 2017/11/26 TAGS: PGOV PINR CH SUBJECT: New Guangdong Vice Governor to be Named ¶1. (U) Classified by Consul General Robert Goldberg for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶2. (C) Jieyang Municipality Party Secretary Wan Qinliang will be appointed one of Guangdong's Vice Governors during the Provincial Congress's January 17, 2008 session, according to Jieyang Vice Mayor Lin Lijiao. After telling econoff of Wan's impending promotion, Ms. Lin called Wan's mobile phone and allowed a Consulate economic assistant to speak with him for several minutes. During the conversation, Wan spoke highly of the assistance he had received from the Consulate when a Jieyang delegation had applied for visas, and reiterated his interest in continuing contact with the Consulate. Biographic Information -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Wan Qinliang was born in 1964, and is an ethnic Hakka from northern Guangdong's Meizhou Municipality. Prior to his appointment as Jieyang's Party Secretary in 2003, he served as the Guangdong Provincial Communist Youth League Party Secretary (2000-2003),Party Secretary of Meizhou's poor Jialing County (1997-2000) and in Meizhou Prefecture's Party Committee (1985-1997),where he focused on propaganda issues. Local officials describe Wan as capable, straightforward, and honest. They also note that he regularly encourages them to be more "liberal" and "open" in their work. GOLDBERG