When Xi Jinping held the first-ever talks in Beijing with a former president of Taiwan, seeking to press the island closer to unification, a bookish-looking official stood out for his ease around China¡¯s leader.
While others treated Xi with stiff formality, the official, Wang Huning, spoke confidently in his presence and sat next to him during the meeting, said Chiu Kun-hsuan, a member of the delegation that accompanied Ma Ying-jeou, the former Taiwanese president.
The scene gave a glimpse of one of the most important, yet little understood, relationships in China: between Xi, the country¡¯s most powerful leader in decades, and Wang, the ruling Communist Party¡¯s most influential ideological adviser in decades.
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