Wang Huning

Wang Huning (Chinese: 王沪宁; pinyin: Wáng Hùníng; born 6 October 1955) is a Chinese political scientist and politician who is one of the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He is currently the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). He has been a leading ideologist in the country since the 1980s. He has been a member of the CCP's Politburo Standing Committee, the highest decision-making body within the party between convocations of the Central Committee and the National Congress, since 2017 (19th). A former academic, Wang was a professor of international politics and dean of the law school at Fudan University. During this time, he gained attention due to his belief in "neoauthoritarianism", which held that a strong leadership was needed for China's stability and political reforms. He became a policy author for the CCP leadership in 1995 as a director of a research team at the CCP's Central Policy Research Office (CPRO). He became the CPRO's deputy director in 1998, and became a member of the party's Central Committee and director of the office in 2002. He remained in the CPRO until 2020, the longest tenure in the office. As CPRO deputy director and later as director, he was instrumental in developing the Three Represents, a new ideological theory formulated under Jiang Zemin's leadership. He continued this work under Hu Jintao, and is believed to have had an important role in developing the theories, Scientific Outlook on Development, as well as Harmonious Society. He became a member of the CCP secretariat in 2007, a central leading organ responsible for executing and implementing policy decisions. Wang became a member of the Politburo (18th) in 2012, and is believed to have developed close relations with CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, becoming one...