News: SASAC Party Secretary Hao Peng (郝鹏) is concurrently appointed SASAC Chairman today, filling up the vacancy left by Xiao Yaqing (肖亚庆), who departed for another post as SAMR Chief yesterday. Xiao is to succeed Zhang Mao (张茅), who has reached the mandatory retirement age of 65.
Quick Take: Hao and Xiao shared office for two and a half years at SASAC since December 2016, but with its dual-leadership system, Hao used to be mainly in charge of party-related issues and Xiao took care of more administrative and operational matters, such as overseeing the SOE reforms. Upon Hao’s appointment today, he is now lifted to be in full charge of SASAC. Moreover, Hao Peng has extensive experience working in local governments, having served in Gansu, Tibet, and Qinghai respectively from 1999 to 2016. SASAC under his leadership will be better positioned to enable partnerships between central SOEs and local governments.