ដៃកំពូលរបស់អាមេរិករបស់ចិនត្រូវបានដកចេញពីការដេញថ្លៃរបស់លោក Xi ដើម្បីគ្រប់គ្រង

Jack Ma and Wang Qishan were big names in Tsinghua University back channel

Chinese President Xi Jinping is giving the cold shoulder to some of China's best-connected figures for relations with the U.S. ahead of a Communist Party congress next fall during which he is expected to seek a third leadership term.

After taking over as the party's general secretary in 2012, Xi had treated the advisory board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, his alma mater, with particular respect.

The group -- whose members include Alibaba Group Holding's Jack Ma, Foxconn founder Terry Gou and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson -- had been viewed as a key back channel between the two economies. Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein was among those who attended a meeting between board members and Xi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in October 2013, according to the university.

Xi's connections with the university came into focus with then-U. S. President Donald Trump's November 2017 trip to China. Just days before, Xi invited Tsinghua advisory board members to the Great Hall of the People, where he stressed the importance of a "mutually beneficial" relationship in front of U.S. business leaders such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Trump's insistence on reducing the U.S. trade deficit with China had raised alarm about the risk of a head-on clash during his visit. But a reported $250 billion in deals between American and Chinese companies came out of the trip, fueling speculation that the Tsinghua board had served as a buffer.

Over the past year, however, board members have run afoul of Chinese authorities, perhaps none more prominently than Alibaba founder Jack Ma.

Alibaba-affiliated financial company Ant Group, which is in effect controlled by Ma, was forced last November to shelve a planned mega-IPO in Shanghai. Ma was grilled by financial regulators and all but disappeared from the public eye for months.

In April, news emerged that a close aide to another advisory board member, Chen Yuan, was being investigated on corruption allegations. Chen had chaired the China Development Bank, which is directly overseen by the State Council. He is said by some to have been among Ma's backers and reportedly owned stock in Alibaba, which listed in New York in 2014.

The political winds also appear to have shifted for Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan, a former banker and anti-corruption chief once seen as Xi's right-hand man. Wang has U.S. connections through his influence in China's finance world.

The graft-fighting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection dispatched teams last month to investigate 25 financial companies, including major state-owned banks, in what some observers have suggested may be a bid to erode Wang's clout.

People's Bank of China Gov. Yi Gang, who studied in the U.S., is another fading presence in the party. Yi is still only an alternate member of the Central Committee, falling outside the party's top 200 officials. For the past two years, he has not appeared with top cabinet members to answer questions from reporters on the sidelines of the annual National People's Congress, possibly indicating he is out of Xi's favor.

The shunning of the Tsinghua board members, whom some had called Xi's brain trust for U.S. relations, appears to be connected to recent shifts in bilateral ties and Chinese economic policy.

Relations with Washington have deteriorated to a level that has been likened to a new Cold War. Chinese leadership under Xi is no longer in any rush to mend them, giving advisory board members fewer opportunities to offer input.

As the president concentrates authority over all areas of policy, including diplomacy, into his own hands, he may even have begun to regard experts on the U.S., with their unfamiliar connections, as a risk.

Xi this summer appointed Qin Gang -- a diplomat with no experience in America -- as Beijing's ambassador to Washington, replacing Cui Tiankai, one of the party's leading U.S. hands.

Qin gained Xi's trust while serving as head of diplomatic protocol, a position in which he often managed the president's appearances, according to a Chinese diplomatic source. He may have been seen as a loyal pair of hands to reflect Xi's will in his dealings with Washington.

The ambassador last week sent a message on Taiwan ahead of a virtual summit between Xi and U.S. President Joe Biden, warning that "we make no promise to renounce the use of force and reserve the option of taking all necessary means."

Xi's views may no longer be compatible with those of the Tsinghua advisory board.

The board's honorary chairman is Zhu Rongji, who founded the economics school at Tsinghua and played a major role in reforming state-owned enterprises as premier of China under Jiang Zemin. The large number of reform-minded advisers on the board's roster is likely a reflection of his significant influence.

But while Xi once stressed the role of market functions in China's economy, his emphasis has shifted to the state sector. In his role as a party elder statesman, Zhu is rumored to have harshly criticized Xi's economic policy.

Nikkei Asia