[The Epoch Times, October 8, 2024](Comprehensive report by Epoch Times reporter Ning Haizhong) Wu Bangguo, former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and Chairman of the National People’s Congress of the Communist Party of China, died of illness on Tuesday (October 8) at the age of 84. Wu Bangguo is a member of Jiang’s “Shanghai Gang”, and his family’s corruption scandals have been repeatedly exposed. Wu Bangguo once proposed the “Five Don’ts”, which caused controversy.
The Xinhua News Agency of the Communist Party of China reported that Wu Bangguo died in Beijing at 4:36 on Tuesday “due to ineffective treatment”. He was 84 years old. The official obituary described Wu as a “time-tested and loyal communist fighter,” among other things.
On the evening of September 30 this year, the CCP’s “National Day” reception was held in Beijing. Except for the former leader of the Communist Party of China Hu Jintao, former Prime Minister Zhu Rongji, former Chairman of the National People’s Congress Wu Bangguo, and CCP veterans Song Ping and Luo Gan, 15 former members of the Politburo Standing Committee, including Wen Jiabao, Li Ruihuan, Yu Zhengsheng, Li Zhanshu, and Wang Yang, attended.
Public information shows that Wu Bangguo was born in July 1941 in Feidong, Anhui Province. He has worked in Shanghai for a long time and served as deputy secretary of the party committee of the Shanghai Instrument and Telecommunications Industry Bureau. In 1983, Wu Bangguo was appointed as a member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Committee and Secretary of the Municipal Science and Technology Party Committee. In 1985, he was appointed as Deputy Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee. In 1991, he was promoted to Secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee. In 1994, he was appointed as Secretary of the Central Secretariat. In 1995, he was appointed as Secretary of the Central Secretariat and Vice Premier of the State Council. In 2003, he was appointed Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the Communist Party of China and was re-elected in 2008.
On March 10, 2011, Wu Bangguo proposed the so-called “five no’s” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party at the National People’s Congress (no multi-party rotation in power, no diversification of guiding ideology, no “three powers” and bicameral system, no federal system system, no privatization), which caused controversy.
Wu Bangguo was a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 16th and 17th CPC Central Committee, ranking second among the Standing Committee members, second only to Hu Jintao, then leader of the Communist Party of China. After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, he resigned as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and retired as chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee in 2013.
Wu Bangguo is regarded as an important member of the “Shanghai Gang” and has a close relationship with former party leader Jiang Zemin. When Jiang was secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, Wu was deputy secretary of the municipal party committee. After Jiang moved to Beijing, Wu served as secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee. After that, Wu was promoted to the Central Committee by Jiang, and successively served as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, and Vice Premier of the State Council.
In 2002, Wu Bangguo was forced into the Politburo Standing Committee by Jiang Zemin at the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. At that time, Wu was accused of using the National People’s Congress to fight against “Hu and Wen”.
Shanghai was once the hometown of Jiang Zemin, the former leader of the Communist Party of China. Over the past decades, Jiang’s faction has formed an intricate and complex relationship in Shanghai’s political and business circles. Wu Bangguo, Huang Ju, Chen Liangyu, Han Zheng, Yang Xiong and other high-level officials in Shanghai are all Jiang Zemin’s followers.
When Jiang Zemin was in power, under his slogan of “making a fortune silently”, the Wu Bangguo family was reported to have tens of billions of yuan (RMB, the same below) in property. Over the years, corruption scandals involving Wu Bangguo’s family have been exposed.
Hong Kong media reported that Wu Bangguo’s wife, Zhang Ruizhen, was originally an ordinary female worker at Shanghai Radio No. 1 Factory. As her husband’s status continued to rise, she became a director of Shanghai Feile Co., Ltd.
Wu Bangguo’s son-in-law, Feng Shaodong, first served as chairman of Merrill Lynch Investment Bank China, and later served as president of China General Nuclear Power Industrial Investment Fund, a state-owned industrial investment fund with total assets of 10 billion. He also served as an external director of the super commercial aircraft carrier Shanghai Bailian Group. Wu Bangguo’s elder brother Wu Bangjie and younger brother Wu Bangsheng also transformed from ordinary people into powerful tycoons in Shanghai. Among them, Wu Bangguo’s younger brother Wu Bangsheng is involved in Shanghai’s real estate and construction industries and has a strong net worth.
Shanghai Electric Group announced at its cadre meeting on December 12 last year that Wu Lei was appointed secretary of the group party committee and nominated as chairman. Wu Lei is only 46 years old and the son of Wu Bangguo.
Editor in charge: Li Renhe#
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