Three Chinese officials who have helmed the flagship Singapore-China Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) project have seen their political stock rise in recent months, spurring talk that the eastern city is a new 'cradle' for higher office.

All three - Mr Liang Baohua, 62, Mr Chen Deming, 58, and Mr Wang Min, 57 - are known for their pro-business stance and strong management skills, and are thought to have caught Beijing's eye while they were running the Suzhou park.

The trio also worked closely with Singapore officials on the SIP, now 13 years old, with Mr Liang and Mr Chen being instrumental in the negotiating team which met the Singapore side in the park's early years to iron out problems.

Since leaving the city, these three Suzhou alumni have been steadily promoted through the ranks to hold coveted appointments at the provincial or central government level.

Mr Liang has been the governor of thriving Jiangsu province - to which Suzhou belongs - since 2003 and was recently promoted to also hold its party boss position.

Mr Chen is currently a deputy head of the powerful economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, while Mr Wang is the party chief of north-eastern Jilin province.

These two younger Suzhou alumni are poised for bigger things after emerging as the leading candidates to become the new commerce minister.

Current Commerce Minister Bo Xilai is widely tipped for a move to the western economic hub of Chongqing. The commerce portfolio has become increasingly high-profile and important in recent years on the back of China's rising economic clout.

A source with knowledge of the impending reshuffle at the ministry said Mr Chen is now the front runner, though his appointment is still subject to a vote by the top leadership.

That two former Suzhou officials are vying for the commerce minister's job only adds to the buzz over the so-called 'Suzhou xi (group)'.

While observers caution against referring to these officials as a 'xi', Beijing-based political commentator Zhang Zhuhua noted that it is unusual that a mid-sized, prefecture-level city like Suzhou has churned out one rising star after another.

But Mr Liang himself dismissed the string of promotions as mere coincidence.

'The SIP experience is very important in our work with foreign investors, partners, but cadres' appointments are not based on where one has worked before,' he told Singapore journalists in a recent interview in Jiangsu's provincial capital Nanjing.

Noting that he, Mr Chen and Mr Wang had all worked in the Jiangsu provincial government before being sent to run the SIP, he added: 'As long as you're outstanding, wherever you work, you will be recognised.'

But current Suzhou mayor Yan Li was more sanguine about how officials' careers may be helped by a stint in the prosperous city where the SIP has become a showcase 'new Silicon Valley', 80km west of coastal Shanghai.

The city offers a 'good platform', he told Singapore journalists. 'Suzhou is a place where if you think up an idea, you can realise it, a place where if you want to do something, you can achieve it.'

Agreeing, Mr Chan Soo Sen, the first chief executive of the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Development Company (CSSD) from 1994 to 1996, said he knows the promoted trio as leaders who 'learn fast, analyse well and act decisively'.

The CSSD is the joint venture company which manages and develops the SIP.

Mr Chan, a Singapore Member of Parliament, added that because of the importance of the bilateral project, Beijing selects good men in the first place. 'If they do well, their abilities are noted at a high level,' he said.

That visibility counts, said CSSD's current executive vice-president Goh Tien Jin. Suzhou officials have told him that were it not for the SIP, they might just be among a sea of cadres from various localities vying for Beijing's attention.

simcy@sph.com.sg