By Joseph S. Margai in Beijing, China
President Xi Jinping, who was on Saturday, March 17, 2018, re-elected president of the People’s Republic of China, has on Sunday, March 18th appointed top government officials at the annual session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC), held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.
President Xi and Premier Li Keqiang, the head of government, finished their first terms in March and after Xi was unanimously elected, he reappointed Li for the next five years.
Li, who was born in July 1955, has been a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee since 2007, and the premier of the State Council since 2013.
He is from Dingyuan County in east China’s Anhui Province and began his first job in March 1974. Li joined the CPC in May 1976.
The Chinese premier, from 1978 to 1982 studied in Beijing at Peking University’s Law Department, has a Bachelor of Law degree.
Upon completion of his law degree, completed an in-service graduate program in economics at the university’s School of Economics and was awarded a Doctoral Degree in Economics.
Xu Qiliang and Zhang Youxia were appointed as vice chairpersons of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the People’s Republic of China.
Wei Fenghe, Li Zuocheng, Miao Hua and Zhang Shengmin were appointed members of CMC.
Born in March 1950, Xu is currently a member of the Political Bureau of the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and vice chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission. He holds the rank of general in the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
Zhang, on the other hand, was born in July 1950 and is currently a member of the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee and vice chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission. He holds the rank of general.
Yang Xiaodu was elected as the director of China’s National Supervisory Commission, a commission that integrates the functions of discipline inspection, supervision, prosecution and auditing in the Communist Party of China (CPC), government and judicial agencies.
Yang was born in October 1953and became a member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), Minister of Supervision and Director of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention in 2017.
Yang, who is from Shanghai, began his first job in May 1970 in a production brigade in Taihe County, Anhui Province, and joined the CPC in September 1973.
He became the Deputy Secretary of the CCDI in 2014 and in 2017 became a member of CPC Central Committee Political Bureau and also Deputy Secretary of the CCDI.
Yang was also headed the Ministry of Supervision and the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention.
Zhou Qiang, who was first elected in 2013, was also elected president of China’s Supreme People’s Court and Zhang Jun was elected procurator-general of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.
Some159 people were also elected to be members of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on Sunday.
Nearly 3,000 NPC deputies voted to approve the nomination of Li and the other appointees at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday.
Both appointees and elected government officials pledged allegiance to the country’s Constitution upon assuming office on Sunday.
