ENGLISH EDITION OF THE WEEKLY CHINESE NEWSPAPER, IN-DEPTH AND INDEPENDENT
site: HOME > > Economic > News > Corporation
Huaneng President Likely to Enter Politics
Summary:

Translated by Liu Peng
Original article
: [Chinese]

Forty-nine-year-old Li Xiaopeng, a veteran in the power industry and son of former Chinese premiere Li Peng, would say farewell to China's largest power company Huaneng Group and be likely to enter politics.

The EO learned that Li, whose name Xiaopeng could also mean Li Peng jr. in Chinese, would likely be appointed as executive vice-governor and a member of the Shanxi provincial Communist Party of China's (CPC) standing committee.


Li (middle) inspecting Huaneng Group's quake relief work at Zipingpu Reservoir, Sichuan.

If the appointment goes through, Li, who has headed the state-owned Huaneng Group for nearly six years, would trade business for political power in China's biggest coal basin – Shanxi.  

On June 3, Huaneng Power International Corporation, a listed company and core subsidiary of China Huaneng Group, released a notice saying that Li, due to job transfer, had handed in his resignation to the company's board of directors a day earlier.

Before this, Li was the Group's president and CPC Huaneng committee secretary.

New Political Role
After the announcement, there was no further official news regarding Li's new appointment.

One source from Huaneng – who was currently engaged in the Group's quake relief efforts in Sichuan directed by Li – told the EO that news of Li's departure had spread around the office, but official documents concerning the Group's human resources readjustment had yet to be issued.

A check with the Group's official website revealed that its leadership column still presented Li as its president. The latest corporate news concerning Li was of him chairing a meeting on May 27 regarding quake relief work in Sichuan, about reviving production and rebuilding in quake areas.

Li, born in June 1959, was the eldest son of former Chinese Premiere Li Peng. Since he graduated from the North China Electric Power University in 1982, he has been working in the power industry for 26 years.

His career started with the China Electric Power Research Institute. Later in 1991, he joined the Huaneng International Power Development Company. Three years later, he successfully led the company to a market listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1999, he was appointed as president and chairman of Group's board of directors. Two year later, he ascended to the vice-president of State Power Corporation, which was split into 11 companies in December, 2002.

Since 2002, he had served as the president and legal representative of the newly-established China Huaneng Group.

One veteran in the power industry told the EO that "those up above" had been observing Li's performance for a long time. He added that news had circulated for some time that Li would eventually leave Huaneng Group.

Sources said Li would likely become a provincial CPC standing committee member, in charge of coal-related affairs.

Chen Wangxiang, vice-director general of Energy Resources Development and Research Center of China investment Association, commented that Li, with his vast experience in the power industry, would have an advantage in helping shape Shanxi's role in China's strategic energy plan.

Chen said if Li was appointed in Shanxi, his past experiences would help ease the strains currently affecting the power generation, coal production and transportation sectors there.

He added Li's departure from Huaneng would not have a huge impact on the future development of the Group, as it was an enterprise with scale and a credible team of staff.
Huaneng's Post-Li Era
Though coming from a well known family, having outstanding achievements and being called the Asian Power Mogul, Li has left an impression as being low-profile and pragmatic. During his reign at Huaneng, he hardly entertained media requests for interviews.

Many power industry insiders used the word diligent to describe their impression of Li. Since Huaneng inception in 2002, under Li's guidance, its assets scale and business performance continued to rank first among the big five power giants.

The other four Chinese power giants are Datang Telecom Technology Corporation, China Guodian Corporation, China Huadian Corporation and China Power Investment Corporation.

According to State Electricity Regulatory Commission, the total assets of Huaneng Group reached 369.8 billion yuan in 2007. The same year, its sales income amounted to 115.5 billion, with 10.3 billion in profits.

In recent years, Huaneng has maintained a rapid pace of progress. Besides enlarging its traditional base of power generation, it has also expanded by taking over power enterprises locally and abroad, including those in Hainan, Inner Mongolia, Guangdong, Australia and Singapore.

Meanwhile, Huaneng also actively participated in the industry's downstream and related businesses, such as investing in coal mines, railway and ports.

Earlier this year, Li had outlined three goals for Huaneng. First was to up its power generation capacity to break the 80 million kilowatt bar, and maintain its leading position in domestic power industry.

Second was to realize a profit over 140 billion yuan, and become the first Chinese power company to enter the world's top 500 companies list.

The last goal was to meet the A-class assessment by the State-owned Assets Supervision Commission, and enhance its competitive edge in the international arena.

However, before all the goals were materialized, Li would have bid farewell to Huaneng. As of press time, there was still no news of who would become his successor at the Group.

According to the Group's June 3 announcement, before a new chief was elected, its vice-chairman Huang Yongda would be the acting chairman.

Huang is the vice-president and member of CPC Huaneng Committee in the Group, ranking second only to Li, according to the Group's official website.

The EO learned that the post of CPC Huaneng committee secretary and Group president, previously hold simultaneously by Li, would be assumed by two senior managers.  

Related Stories

0 comments

Comments(The views posted belong to the commentator, not representative of the EO)

username: Quick log-in

EO Digital Products

Multimedia & Interactive