Beijing has appointed a vice-minister of commerce to be its top official in Macau, in a move seen by political analysts as the central government’s bid to strengthen economic ties with Portuguese-speaking countries.
Chinese State Council ,announced in a statement Friday, that it had appointed Fu Ziying, 61, as director of the central government’s liaison office in Macau.
Fu, 61, had concurrently been the China International Trade Representative (a ministerial-level position) and a vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) since March last year, before being appointed as the director of the Liaison Office in Macau, according to the statement.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Friday, Fu simultaneously left his two positions in the Ministry of Commerce.
The ministry has four vice ministers in its organisational structure.
Fu entered the workforce in October 1974, and joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in July 1992, according to his biography on the MOFCOM website, which pointed out that that apart from holding a master’s degree and a PhD in economics he is also a senior accountant.
After having worked in several positions up to director level in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, he was promoted to assistant minister of the Ministry of Commerce in 2003. Five years later, he was appointed as a vice commerce minister, according to the MOFCOM website.
The Ministry of Commerce replaced the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation.
One of the several senior positions Fu held in the current ministry’s predecessor was principal accountant.
In November 2011, Fu was appointed vice-governor of Jiangsu province. In March 2015, he returned to Beijing, and was appointed head of the Discipline Inspection Unit of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in the CPC Central Committee Publicity Department, before returning to the Ministry of Commerce last year, according to the MOFCOM website.
Fu, who was born in Yueyang city, Hunan province in September 1957, is an alternate member of the 19th CPC Central Committee
Fu paid a working visit to Macau on December 12, when he signed an agreement with Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong Vai Tac between the mainland and Macau on trade in goods under the framework of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), symbolising the completion of comprehensively upgrading the arrangement.
The director of the Liaison Office is the central government’s top representative in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR). The office started operating on December 20, 1999, coinciding with the establishment of the MSAR.
Friday’s statement did not say when Fu will start to work in Macau.
