Wang Daohan ( zh, c=汪道涵, p=Wāng Dàohán; 27 March 1915 – 24 December 2005) was a Chinese politician who was president of the

Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS; ; often abbreviated as ) is a United front (China), united front organization set up by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the People's Republic of China for handling technical and bus ...

(ARATS) from 1991 to 2005.

Biography

Wang was born in Jiashan County (present day

Mingguang Mingguang (), formerly Jiashan County (), is a county-level city in the northeast of Anhui Province, China, bordering Jiangsu province to the northeast and east. It is under the administration of Chuzhou city. Geography Mingguang City is on the ...

City) in China's

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

province in 1915 and joined the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

in 1938. During his early career within the government of the People's Republic of China, he focused on trade and investment issues. In 1965 he was the deputy minister of the State Commission for Foreign Economic Relations with Foreign Countries and in 1979 he was appointed vice-chair of the State Foreign Investment Commission and vice-chair of the State Import-Export Commission. Later Wang came to greater prominence when, after a year as vice-mayor, he was appointed mayor of Shanghai in 1981. As mayor, Wang contributed to the success of

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...

's economic reforms by actively encouraging foreign investment and joint ventures. When he retired in 1985, Wang convinced the party authorities to name his protégé

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...

as his successor. On 16 December 1991 Wang was named the president of

(ARATS), a semi-official organization created to correspond with the

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). The following year Wang and SEF chairman Koo Chen-fu held preliminary talks in Hong Kong which resulted in the so-called "

1992 Consensus The 1992 Consensus is a political term referring to the alleged outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semi-official representatives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-led People's Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China and the Kuomintang ...

" and facilitated negotiations of practical matters. However, the content and the very existence of this "1992 Consensus" is still widely disputed. In April 1993, Koo and Wang met in Singapore to hold the Wang-Koo summit. A second round of talks followed in 1998, in Shanghai, but no further talks have taken place since. Beijing called off talks in 1999, after

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

President

Lee Teng-hui Lee Teng-hui (; pinyin: ''Lǐ Dēnghuī''; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese politician and agricultural scientist who served as the fourth president of the Republic of China, president of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan) unde ...

proposed his two-states theory. Wang died in Shanghai on the morning of 24 December 2005.

References

"Economic Policy after the 16th Party Congress"
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, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Daohan 1915 births 2005 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in China Mayors of Shanghai People from Mingguang People's Republic of China politicians from Anhui Chinese Communist Party politicians from Anhui Politicians from Chuzhou