Chinese Leadership Changes

While attending the 8th US-China Oil & Gas Industry Forum in San Francisco this week, heard a lot of buzz about possible Chinese leadership changes. These changes won't occur at during the Chinese Communist Party Congress, which begins October 15, but more probably will be announced during the National People's Congress meeting in March 2008. The first changes concern the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the successor to the old State Planning Commission. Rumor is that former SPC Chairman and current vice premier ZENG Peiyan will retire and be replaced as vice premier by current NDRC Chairman MA Kai; in turn, MA will be replaced as NDRC Chairman by current vice chairman CHEN Deming, who overseas energy matters at NDRC, in conjunction with vice chairman ZHANG Guobao, who is expected to retire. Also, there was talk that FU Chenyu, currently president of the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) will be named as minister of commerce or as governor of one of China's provinces.