in more spheres of Chinese life. It was particularly focused on reforming state-owned enterprises to accommodate allocation of their resources by prices set by a more open market and adjusting governmental policies to accommodate this. Jilin had many SOEs, which Wang had long experience with, and he became one of the most vocal champions of Zhu's policies to modernize and improve them. During this period, Wang was one of the most powerful leaders in the Chinese administration. He was part of a consultative group tasked with exploring how far and fast the PRC could move towards democracy; the group's ultimate decision was to leave open elections limited to the local level, where they permitted immediate and daily grievances to be addressed without impacting Beijing's general guidance over the country. Wang also used his national influence to push for more development in Jilin, particularly the establishment of international agreements permitting Hunchun on the Tumen River to freely access the Sea of Japan across the narrow spit of territory held by North Korea and Russia. This had been a pet project of his since 1988, when the first regional conference on the topic had been held in Changchun. To permit the use of larger vessels, cooperation has slowly developed between China and North Korea in order to allow the Chinese to use the seaport of Rason, with Hunchun functioning more as its railway hub. Again with the assistance of Zhu Rongji, Wang served as secretary-general of the State Council from March 1998 to March 2003, during which time he was appointed president of the National School of Administration (now the "Academy of Governance"), helped revamp the administration of the One Child Policy, served as the head of the leading group that oversaw China's 5th national census, and sat as a member of the steering committee that oversaw the 2001 APEC summits around China. In 1999, he also participated in the transfer of Macao from Portuguese to Chinese control. From 5 March 2003 to 5 March 2008, he was vice-chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference. In 2005, he headed a Chinese diplomatic mission to Ghana from May 31 to June 2. He served as president of the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions from 2005 to 2007. See also Opening Up Policy & the "Three Represents" History of the PRC from 1989 to 2002 Politics of the People's