China parliament chief shaped by Shanghai

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - From factory boss to Shanghai Communist Party boss, Chinese parliament chief Wu Bangguo's rise up the ranks has been shaped by his ties to the country's financial hub and most cosmopolitan city.

Part of the so-called Shanghai gang, or leaders whose careers blossomed in China's commercial capital, Wu is known to be a close ally of Jiang Zemin, who though retired, still wields considerable influence.

As titular head of China's largely rubber-stamp parliament, Wu is number two in the Communist Party hierarchy, just behind President Hu Jintao but above Premier Wen Jiabao. He is expected to retain his seat as the Party holds its 17th Congress this week.

At one point, Wu, 66, was mooted as a possible successor to then-Premier Zhu Rongji, but analysts said the straight-talking Zhu favored Wen.

Still, as parliament head, Wu has presided over a few landmark and unusually contentious laws, including one on property rights that was postponed for a year after critics warned it would undermine China's socialist principles.

Under his watch, parliament also passed an Anti-Secession Law, which mandated military force if self-ruled, democratic Taiwan declares formal independence. China claims the island as its own.

A radio engineer by training, Wu was front man for state-owned enterprise reform, one of China's most thankless tasks -- trimming fat from bloated firms while trying to minimize resultant labor protests.

Wu, from impoverished rural Anhui province, had to walk a political tightrope, laying off millions to turn backward state firms into commercially viable concerns, but remained unflappable.