26 November 2002 – According to a Reuters report, China has chosen Wang Xudong as the new head of the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) the telecommunications regulator, bringing in an outsider whose background is as a provincial Communist Party chief. Wang, who stepped down as party leader in Hebei last week, will replace Wu Jichuan as the head of MII, a ministry official and other sources said on Tuesday.

"He is our new leader. He will be coming to the ministry later today for a formal internal introduction," a senior official told Reuters.

Hints of the appointment came during a Communist Party congress earlier this month, in which Wu lost his place on the Central Committee and Wang, previously an alternate to the body, became a full member. Analysts had expected Vice-Minister Zhang Chunjiang to succeed Wu.

"It is interesting that they are putting someone with a party background at the top of what is a very technology-oriented industry," said Ted Dean, managing director of BDA China Ltd.

"You could interpret that as wanting to rein in or centralise management of that industry more than it's been in the past."

Dean cautioned that there are few clues about Wang's stance on important issues. "In terms of specific policies, it's still hard to tell, primarily because he doesn't have a telecom background," Dean said.

Wu's tenure with MII has been controversial. He resisted opening China's telecoms and Internet sectors to foreign investment and was opposed to a breakup of former telephone monopoly China Telecom. Wu has frequently disagreed with Premier Zhu Rongji, who has attempted to accelerate the liberalisation of China's information and communications technology sector.

Last week, Zhu referred to a recent MII decision to raise interconnection fees between Hong Kong and mainland China as "reckless". Zhu did single out Wu, but said the ministry did not understand politics or a market economy.

Some analysts believe the ministry might merge with the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. The future of the recently created State Council Office for Informatisation is also uncertain.