Hi pints, The former Chairman seems to have been an apparatchik...

Hi pints,
The former Chairman seems to have been an apparatchik of the Chinese Communist Party.
see Bloomberg profile below:
cheers
Moorookamick

Dr. Qin Xiao, PhD Econ., serves as a Part-Time Professor of the Tsing Hua University and Postgraduate Department of the People's Bank of China. Dr. Qin is also a Guest Professor at the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University and the Graduate School of the People's Bank of China. He served as the General Manager at China International Trust and Investment Corporation from 1995 to 2000 and served as its President. He served as an Advisor on the Foreign Currency Policy of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange from 1999 to 2001. He served as Deputy Party Secretary and Chairman of CITIC Industrial Bank from 1998 to 2001. He has been the Non-Executive Chairman of Amex Resources Limited since April 02, 2012. He is founder and Chairman of the Boyuan Foundation. He served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of China Merchants Bank Co, Ltd., from April 2001 to September 20, 2010. Dr. Qin served as Chairman of China Merchants Group Ltd., from January 2001 to September 20, 2010. He served as Chairman of APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) from 2000 to 2001. He served as Vice Chairman of CITIC Group Company (China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC)) from 2000 to 2001. He served as a Vice Chairman of the Affiliate of International Chamber of Commerce in China from 1999 to 2001. He serves as a member of Toyota International Advisory Board and a member of Asia Business Council. Dr. Qin served as an Independent Non Executive Director at HKR International Ltd. from July 22, 2009 to July 1, 2014. He served as an Independent Non-Executive Director at AIA Group Limited from September 28, 2010 to July 1, 2011. He has been a Director of China Telecom Corp. Ltd. since September 9, 2008. He is a Member of the Tenth and Eleventh Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Chairman of Hong Kong Chinese Enterprises Association, Advisor and senior research fellow of Hong Kong and Macao Research Institute of the State Council Development and Research Center. He served as a Director of AIA Group Limited until May 30, 2014. He was a deputy to the Sixteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China and a deputy to the Ninth National People's Congress. He has published many papers in the fields of economics and management in Chinese and overseas periodicals, and his Chinese and English books on management theory have also been published. Dr. Qin holds a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Cambridge in 2002 and Master's Degree in Economics from China University of Mining and Technology in 1983. He is a Senior Economist.
(bloomberg.com)