Li Qiang, number two of the Communist Party (CCP), was appointed today as the new prime minister of China at the proposal of Xi Jinping, president of the country and secretary general of the formation.
Xi, ratified yesterday for a third term, signed today in the plenary session of the National People’s Assembly (ANP, equivalent to a Legislative Assembly), held in the Great Hall of the People, the presidential order to appoint Li.
Li, formerly responsible for the largest business center in the country, Shanghai, will have the difficult mission of laying the foundations for the recovery of the second largest economy of the world.
Born in 1959, Li will replace Li Keqiang, who leaves the portfolio after ten years in a marked background compared to Xi, who surrounded himself with faithful in the last XX congress of the formation, held in October, to consolidate their control over the regime.
Li, close to Xi, will have the mission of reactivating the economy and advancing guidelines such as achieving “scientific and technological self-sufficiency”, a response to Washington’s veto on the manufacture of US chips for Chinese companies.
On the other hand, the ANP today also approved the appointment of Zhang Youxia and He Weidong as vice ministers of the Central Military Commission (CMC). or that of Zhang Jun as president of the People’s Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of China, the highest court in the country.
The ANP thus culminates a structural renewal process after Xi consolidated his absolute power yesterday, achieving a third five-year presidential term (2023-2028).
To achieve this, the body approved a constitutional amendment in 2018 that removed the limit of two consecutive five-year terms for Chinese presidents.
In yesterday’s plenary session, the appointments of Han Zheng as vice president and Zhao Leji as president of the Standing Committee of the ANP were also endorsed, a position that corresponds to that of head of the Legislature.
Likewise, Wang Huning, another of Xi’s closest allies, was appointed Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conferencethe highest political advisory body in the country.
Yesterday, the deputies also gave the green light to a third term for Xi as chairman of the Central Military Commission, a position equivalent to that of head of the Armed Forces of the Asian country.
Last October, Xi revalidated his position as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Thus, the control of the president over the three arms of power is reinforced: the State, the PCCh and the Army.