Wang Yifu, head of the All China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots and a close aide of President Xi Jinping, is appointed to preside over the National Society of Taiwan Studies, a Chinese think tank that focuses specifically on the self-ruled island. The 70-year-old is replacing former state councilor Dai Bingguo.

Wang was born in Tainan and raised in Xiamen, Fujian. He obtained a master’s degree from the Chinese Department of Fujian Normal University, before working at the Fujian Academy of Social Sciences and becoming the deputy director of the Modern Taiwan Studies Research Institute.

His areas of expertise include the history of Chinese culture, regional studies of Fujian and Taiwan as well as cultural and anthropological studies. Before studying Taiwanese culture as well as the relations between Fujian and Taiwan, he focused on contemporary literature in Taiwan.

Wang worked with Xi in 1998 when he was the vice governor of Fujian and the latter was the province’s deputy secretary. Wang was later promoted to Beijing, where he became vice chairperson of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League, one of the few political parties recognized by the Chinese government.

In recent years, he has published essays on the history of cross-strait politics, looking at the preparation work to “reunify” with Taiwan and the Second United Front. He also studied archive documents on the establishment of the Kuomintang.

Besides Wang, the think tank also appointed two vice chairpersons – Yang Ming-jie, head of the Taiwan Research Institute at Chinese Academy of Social Science, and Wang Weixing, a senior scholar for the People’s Liberation Army.

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