China's new top-planner did not perform well - Victor Shih

Victor Shin

Amid the reshuffle of China's top-officials, He Lifeng will take the helm at the powerful National Development and Reform Commission. But some senior analysts doubted his skills as a planner. Just look at his work in Tianjin, says political analist Victor Shih in AP.

AP

And yet, in the selection of He as top economic planner, some political observers saw a throwback to a retrograde model of wasteful spending and runaway borrowing that many policymakers in the party blame for dragging down China's economy. 

As the No. 2 party official, He oversaw a building spree in the coastal city of Tianjin that was envisioned to be a new financial hub to rival Manhattan but now sits unoccupied, said Victor Shih, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego. 

"He Lifeng presided over the largest ghost city in China and built even more empty office towers in it," Shih said. "His reform credentials are questionable to say the least."

More in AP.

Victor Shih is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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