During this time, he gained attention due to his belief in "neoconservatism", which held that a strong leadership was needed for China's stability and political reforms.

He has held significant influence over policy and decision-making of all three paramount leaders, an exceptionally rare feat in Chinese politics.

Wang believes that a strong, centralized state is needed in China to resist foreign influence, an idea that has been influential under Xi Jinping.

As a military official, Wang Huning's father was implicated during the anti–Peng Dehuai campaign launched by Mao Zedong and suffered persecution during the Cultural Revolution.

[3] During his youth, Wang went to the Shanghai Yongqiang Middle School, where he obtained books that were forbidden during that era from his teachers.

[4] After Nixon's visit to China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) found itself lacking diplomats familiar with foreign languages.

Wang was recommended to enter Shanghai Normal University May 7 Cadre School's Foreign Language Training Class to study French with 24 other classmates.

[note 2][4][5] The Training Class was first located in Dafeng County, Jiangsu Province, where Wang began his study in October 1972.

In 1978, he participated in the Graduate Entrance Examination and was admitted as a postgraduate student in the Department of International Politics of Fudan University.

He received a Master of Laws degree[note 4] in 1981 and stayed in Fudan as an instructor at the Political Science Teaching and Research Department.

[12] After returning to China, Wang served as director of Fudan University's Department of International Politics from 1989 to 1994, and as dean of the law school in 1994–95.

The Development Research Institute submitted various reports, including on the 1989 revolutions in the Eastern Bloc and the political status of Taiwan.

[10] Wang's work in the 1990s expressed the position that China should reclaim a sense of Chinese cultural and intellectual autonomy.

[15] From 1995, Wang was referred to work for the party leadership in Beijing on recommendation from top Shanghai politicians Zeng Qinghong and Wu Bangguo, both of whom maintained close relationships with now-party General Secretary Jiang Zemin.

[13] According to Radio Free Asia, Wang proposed twice to the central government about stepping down as the CPRO Director after becoming a secretary of the Secretariat, but continued in the role as the CCP Organization Department could not find anyone to succeed him.

[21] He was promoted to the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2012 after the Congress, becoming the first director of the CPRO to hold a seat on the elite ruling council.

[22][23] On 22 January 2014, Wang was appointed as the director of the Office of the Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission (CCDR), a new CCP body.

[27][28] Along with other leading cadre, Wang presided over the development of Xuexi Qiangguo, an app designed to teach Xi Jinping Thought.

[29]: 29  After the CCP launched the "not forgetting the original intent and remembering the mission" (不忘初心、牢记使命) educational campaign in May 2019, Wang was appointed as the head of the Central Leading Group.

[27] Reuters reported on 3 March 2023, citing sources, that Wang held a meeting in late October with top medical experts, senior officials and people from the propaganda apparatus, asking them how many deaths an abandonment of zero-COVID controls would cause in a worst-case scenario and requesting them to devise roadmaps on reopening policies in different paces.

[41] According to a Foreign Affairs article by Odd Arne Westad in 2023, Wang is also a member of the CCP National Security Commission and "is perhaps the most influential presence after Xi himself.

"[42] In May 2023, Wang visited Xinjiang, including major cities such as Ürümqi and Kashgar as well as rural communities, schools, mosques and businesses.

[47] In January 2025, Wang held a meeting of the CPPCC, where he pledged to support the development of the private sector, saying China "must support the healthy development of the non-public sector and entrepreneurs, and also guide private enterprises and entrepreneurs to strengthen confidence, surmount challenges, and propel growth".

[51] Wang also met with Liu Chao-shiuan, president of the Council of the Summit for Entrepreneurs Across the Taiwan Strait, in April, and Wu Cherng-dean, chairman of the New Party, in June.

[52] In the same month, at the Straits Forum Wang unveiled a plan to transform Fujian province into a demonstration zone for "Taiwan’s economic integration into China".

[49] On 27 April, he met with a Kuomintang delegation led by Fu Kun-chi, the Majority Leader in the Legislative Yuan, in Beijing.

[60] According to the South China Morning Post, Xi "regularly asks for Wang’s input on his major speeches and statements".

[34] During his tenure as a professor in the 1980s, Wang initially gained attention for his advocacy of neoauthoritarianism, the view that a centralized government is necessary to maintain economic growth and stability, which could later slowly do political reforms from within.

[62] His political views changed after his visit to the U.S., after which he advocated for a centralized one-party state that was culturally unified and self-confident to resist the influence of liberal ideas.

[39] Wang's first marriage, to Zhou Qi, an international relations expert at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Renmin University of China, ended in divorce after he went to Zhongnanhai in 1996.