Recent changes… some made headlines. Vice mayor Liu Zhihua was picked up by the anti-corruption brigade because of his “decadent lifestyle”. He has some mistresses (rumor go he had quite a few), led a luxurious life well above his expected income and it seems he was involved in some dubious deals. He was in charge of some of the Olympic projects, public projects and real estate. Good move – it proves that finally nobody is above the law. Let’s hope it makes some others think twice…
He is replaced by Ji Lin, former chief of the Communist Party Youth League in the capital, to oversee Olympics construction projects.
Beijing has a total of 7 vice-mayors.
Vice mayor Zhang Mao recently left to become the vice president of the National Development and Reform Commission, a prestigious position. I have a good impression of his work. He had the unusual attitude to be rather frank and direct. On 13 March he gave a presentation on Beijing’s 11th Five Year Plan. During the Q&A I asked a question: What was Beijing doing to implement the policy on energy conservation in public buildings where during winter temperatures go up to 28C due to excessive heating, while the “Energy Police” set up under the vice mayor was doing little about it. He explained there was indeed a problem – the government was unable to enforce the policy as the legal framework was lagging behind. He said new regulations would come out by the end of this year. That was at least honest. See the article with a picture of me asking the question.

Vice mayor Lu Hao is less forthcoming. At a seminar organized by the EUCCC on 12 December 2005 I asked the question – when Beijing would improve its transparency for public tenders by publishing them in an open and timely manner. The vice mayor replied: “Foreigners maybe don’t read Chinese newspapers nor China Daily”. This is not exactly what participating companies comment in the EUCCC Public Procurement Group: the feeling is that less than 10% of public tenders are properly published, and the members do read China Daily, Chinese newspapers and websites. Particularly for the European SMEs this is a serious issue, as officially mentioned in the EUCCC Position Paper that was handed over to the vice mayor during the meeting. Maybe some officials need a second reading of China Daily and the Chinese newspapers.