Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is currently visiting China on an official visit from Sept. 19 to 21.

On Tuesday afternoon, PM Lee shared on Facebook that he had landed in Beijing. He also wrote that he looked forward to meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, National People's Congress Chairman Zhang Dejiang, and Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Secretary Wang Qishan.

The addition of Wang to the list of Chinese leaders PM Lee will be meeting is a surprise to many observers, as he was not among the three top leaders that was scheduled to meet PM Lee during his visit, based on the information given in the Prime Minister's Office press release on Sept. 16 announcing the visit.

The revelation of the meeting between PM Lee and Wang suggests that it is an arrangement that has just been confirmed or it could have been originally slated as a closed-door meeting.

Who is Wang Qishan?

Described by the Financial Times as  the "best premier China never had", 69-year-old Wang is a member of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) top decision-making body -- The Politburo Standing Committee.

He is most well-known as a key ally to Xi, playing a key role as the enforcer of the anti-corruption campaign that has swept through the Chinese Communist Party since Xi came to power in November 2012.

As the leader of the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, he has led an aggressive wave of investigations that has nabbed more than 150 officials, which include government ministers, People’s Liberation Army generals and state-owned enterprise executives with vice-ministerial rank or higher — so-called “tigers” — for alleged corruption.

For observers who are familiar with Chinese politics, Wang has enjoyed an illustrious career over the years since his emergence as an influential young reformer in the early 1980s, rising rapidly through the ranks.

Prior to his promotion in 2012, he was a member of the Party's influential Politburo and the Vice Premier in charge of finance and economics.

He was once the co-chair for the highest-level forum for the most important bilateral relationship in the world -- the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, and is especially highly regarded in the international community for his handling of trade and economic relations with the US during the global financial crisis.

According to FT, "Mr Wang has played an important role in almost every pivotal financial and economic reform in modern Chinese history".

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Former co-chair of JCBC

Wang is not unfamiliar with Singapore and his links to us actually go a long way back.

He had co-chaired The Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) -- the top body for furthering bilateral ties from 2008 to 2012. In fact, he is still the longest serving co-chair since the platform was inaugurated in 2004.

Interesting timing

As what we already know, PM Lee is visiting China ahead of a crucial party congress of the CCP in Beijing next month.

As Xi approaches his second five-year term and speculations of the reshuffling of the senior leadership intensifies, the political future of Wang, who has passed the unofficial retirement age of 68, is now subject to intense scrutiny.

According different media reports, there is a possibility that Wang might be given an expanded economic policy role — perhaps, even, as premier, in place of Li Keqiang.

For Wang, who has kept a low profile and minimises his public and media appearances since he became China's powerful top graft-buster, his meeting with PM Lee not only reflects a long-standing relationship with Singapore, but perhaps also sends a signal to the rest of the world -- he is not going anywhere next month, and will be here to stay for a long time.

Top photo from PM Facebook

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