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Zhang Gaoli (张高丽; ; born November 1946) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the first-ranking vice premier of China between 2013 and 2018, and as the seventh-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) between 2012 and 2017. Prior to his ascension, Zhang served as the Party Secretary of Tianjin between 2007 and 2012, and the Party Secretary in the Shandong province between 2002 and 2007.
As Premier Li Keqiang's principal lieutenant, Zhang's portfolio spanned the fields of finance, economic development, natural resources, the environment, and housing. He chaired the ad-hoc steering committees overseeing the Three Gorges Dam, the South–North Water Transfer Project, One Belt One Road, and the Commission on Food Safety of the State Council.
On 2 November 2021, Chinese women's tennis player Peng Shuai accused Zhang of sexually assaulting her, and also referred to an extramarital affair between the two from which he had recently walked away. Her subsequent disappearance, censorship, and reappearance sparked concerns about her safety and well-being.
Zhang attended Jinjiang Qiaosheng High School (). In 1965, Zhang entered Xiamen University to study economics. After graduating in August 1970, Zhang was sent to an oil company logistics team in Maoming to work as a construction worker, stocking materials in a warehouse and moving concrete blocks.
In 1997, Zhang became Party Secretary of Shenzhen. During his time in Shenzhen, Zhang was a strong supporter of the development of Huawei. By the fall of that year, he was an alternate to the 15th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In 1998, he was made deputy provincial party secretary of Guangdong while holding onto his municipal leadership position in Shenzhen. He served under then-provincial party secretary Li Changchun and alongside executive vice governor Wang Qishan. During this time, it was said that he received praise from former President Jiang Zemin. He was also said to have frequently visited and tended to the needs of party veteran Xi Zhongxun, the father of Xi Jinping.
Seven months before the 17th CCP National Congress held in October 2007, the central leadership moved Zhang in a provincial leadership reshuffle to become party secretary in the coastal city of Tianjin, succeeded his unpopular predecessor Zhang Lichang. As the party leader of a direct-controlled municipality, Zhang also gained a seat on the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party. Observers speculated that Zhang would become a member of the "fifth generation" of leadership. In Tianjin Zhang cultivated a low-profile image. While he was seen as a top contender for a seat on the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, along with the regional chiefs of Chongqing and Guangdong, Bo Xilai, and Wang Yang, respectively, Zhang was decidedly less showy and avoided self-promotion. His motto during his term in Tianjin was "do more, speak less."
It was reported that Zhang Gaoli was responsible for promoting the "immature" over-the-counter equity trading platform during his tenure as the Party Secretary of Tianjin. The platform was criticized for opening the door for "social crooks" to conduct financial fraud, causing hundreds of thousands of investors across China to be defrauded, with tens of billions of renminbi at stake.
He was put in charge of two mega projects, the Three Gorges Dam project, and the South-North Water Transfer Project. He was also named head of the Commission on Food Safety of the State Council. In February 2015, he was named leader of the Leading Group for Advancing the Development of One Belt One Road. He was also named the leader of the Leading Group for Coordinating the Joint Development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the leader of the Leading Group for Advancing the Development of the Yangtze River Delta, and in April 2015, the leader of the Leading Group for the Transformation of the State Council. He was also the deputy leader of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, a member of the Leading Group for Financial and Economic Affairs. and the Vice Chairman of the National Energy Commission. Zhang's wide-ranging leadership roles made him a major force in the implementation of the so-called "New Normal" economic policies of Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang.
In discussing the concept of the Chinese Dream as articulated by Xi in 2013, Zhang emphasized that the Chinese Dream also belongs to the millions of disabled people in China.
Zhang retired from the PSC after the 19th CCP National Congress in 2017. He stepped down as first-ranking vice premier in 2018 at the 1st session 13th National People's Congress, and was succeeded by Han Zheng.
Fujian-based website Straight Consume once published an article that alleged that Zhang's eldest brother had left China and died fighting as part of an insurrection against the government of the Philippines sometime in the 1960s. According to online sources in Fujian, Zhang was said to have cut most ties with his siblings after he ascended to higher positions in the world of politics. When serving in Shenzhen, his elder brother visited him but Zhang was said to have told his brother that he was too busy to see him. State media curiously made no mention of Zhang Xiaoyan while profiling the families of each of the members of the Politburo Standing Committee in 2013, suggesting that Zhang may not have wanted to emphasize any connections he may have had with a Hong Kong tycoon.
The New York Times reported that this was the first time a member of the top echelons of the CCP faced such allegations, and the WTA Tour called for an investigation of the allegations. During a press conference on 3 November, Wang Wenbin, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said he had "not heard of this issue, and it is not a diplomatic question".
Peng's post was censored in China shortly after she made the accusation, and any searches or posts about the topic, even as broad as "tennis", in the country were blocked or removed. Her subsequent disappearance led to worldwide concerns over her whereabouts and safety, to the point the Women's Tennis Association suspended all events in China. Peng showed up in state media two weeks later for appearances that observers believed to have been staged in response to foreign inquiries. E-mails and interview publications have depicted her denying that she made the accusation of sexual assault.
Sexual assault accusation
On 2 November 2021, Chinese professional tennis player Peng Shuai took to Sina Weibo to accuse Zhang of sexual assault. Peng said that she first had sex with Zhang in 2011, and that she had been in a consensual extramarital affair with him for several years, until Zhang was appointed to the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and ceased contact with Peng. She also said that later, about three years ago after Zhang had retired from PSC, she and Zhang met again. Zhang invited her to his home and badgered her to have sex with him. Peng initially refused and wrote that she was "scared", "continuously crying" and "not agreeing", but after Zhang said that he hated her, and that he had never forgotten her in the past seven years, and promised he would be good to her, she agreed to have sex after experiencing fear and panic and her feelings towards him from seven years ago. Peng also said that during the incident another person "stood guard" outside the bedroom door. After the 2018 encounter, Peng became Zhang's mistress and she wrote that she "loved" him and was with him willingly. According to Peng, Zhang had told her that he loved her too but claimed it was politically impossible for him to divorce his wife. The extramarital affair broke down on 2 November 2021, after Zhang started to ignore Peng.
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Categories: 1946 Births, Living People, Chinese Communist Party Politicians From Fujian, Delegates To The 9th National People's Congress, Delegates To The 10th National People's Congress, Delegates To The 11th National People's Congress, Delegates To The 12th National People's Congress, First Vice Premiers Of The People's Republic Of China, Governors Of Shandong, Members Of The 17th Politburo Of The Chinese Communist Party, People From Jinjiang, Fujian, People's Republic Of China Politicians From Fujian, Political Office-holders In Tianjin, Politicians From Quanzhou, Xiamen University Alumni, Recipients Of The Order Of The Republic, Party Secretaries Of Tianjin
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