DALIAN, China (Reuters) - Descriptions of Chinese Commerce Minister Bo
Xilai tend to be laced with words rarely thought of in the context of senior
Communist Party cadres -- he is said to be sophisticated, worldly,
charming.
Bo, the son of a revolutionary hero, is a political celebrity
whose popularity has blossomed since his days in the 1990s as mayor of this
northeastern port city that this week played host to mini-ministerial meeting of
World Trade Organization members.
His rise has been swift. In the span of
three years Bo, 56, hopped from being Dalian mayor, to governor of Liaoning
province, to China's pointman on trade. Some say he is destined for a vice
premiership -- or better -- in the coming years.
But before he gets
there, he will have to deftly balance the need to keep foreign trade flowing and
liberalise China's markets without being seen as giving up the farm or
disrupting the country's robust economic growth.
In his first 17 months,
he has received good marks, and even been referred to by some Chinese media as
the "charm minister."
Many were duly impressed that China, which joined
the trade body only in 2001, would take the lead and host the WTO meeting.
Delegates said it was no coincidence the talks were held in Bo's old stomping
ground.
Outsiders speak of a man who is "switched on," and who, despite
having little experience in foreign trade before becoming minister in February
2004, has swiftly mastered a wealth of technical information.
"He is
obviously a man now in the prime of his senior career," said Robert Kapp, an
international business consultant based in the U.S. state of Washington who
served as president of the U.S.-China Business Council from 1994-2004.
In
recent months, Bo has been plunged into spats with the United States and
European Union over surging Chinese exports of textiles and other products that
are testing his mettle.
Washington has also stepped up pressure on China
over rampant intellectual property piracy.
"If he handles the whole thing
well, there is a good chance that he will step up to the vice premier level at
17th Party Congress and enter the Politburo," said Victor Shih, an assistant
professor of political science at Northwestern University.
HARD
NEGOTIATOR
While Bo does not have the last word when it comes to China's
trade, he has the weight to make decisions and the political acumen to know how
much to give and take.
After tough negotiations, Bo clinched a deal with the
EU last month that fended off protective tariffs and that China hailed as a
model for resolving the dispute with the United States.
Serge Abou, head
of the European Commission's mission in China, said Bo was "a very hard
negotiator ... one of the hardest we have ever seen in 30 years of international
negotiations."
"He knows how to defend the interests of his country, but
at the crucial moment he is a man of decision and he can make a deal," he
said.
But his job comes with risks. One false step could it cost him --
especially at a time when worries over China's economic clout are waxing in the
United States.
"The inflammation of the dialogue between the U.S. and China
on economic issues can't but sweep up the trade minister in the process," said
Kapp.
Ironically, Bo's political rise has been hindered in the past by
his status as a "princeling," the son of powerful party veteran Bo Yibo, who
survived the Communist Party's epic Long March and went on to become an economic
planner and vice premier.
At party congresses in 1992 and 1997 he failed to
make the cut for a spot on the 300-plus member Central Committee, the
decision-making core of the party. Analysts chalked up his low vote count to an
uneasiness with his "princeling" status.
Bo Xilai finally made it at the
16th Party Congress in 2002. The 17th Party Congress will be in 2007.
"I
think he will be surrounded by controversy because China's international
economic relations are very controversial now, not only with the U.S. but with
Europe and certain other parts of the world as well," said Kapp.
"But it
doesn't mean that he's in the suicide seat," he said.
A job well done
will surely pay handsome dividends.
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