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Parliament endorses new China Cabinet

Beijing: On the penultimate day of its annual session, China’s Parliament endorsed a new Cabinet, including four Vice-Premiers as well as five State Councillors.

Amongst the more significant appointments was that of Li Keqiang, who was appointed Executive Vice-Premier.

Mr Li (52), is the former party chief of the northeastern province of Liaoning and is reportedly a protégé of President Hu Jintao. He was widely considered to be in contention for the post of President in 2013. With Xi Jinping’s elevation to the position of Vice-President, however, the odds are now on Mr Li taking over Wen Jiabao’s post as Premier in five years time.

Although Mr Li holds a doctorate in economics from Peking University, and as Mr Wen’s heir apparent will be expected to take charge of managing China’s rapidly growing economy, he is likely to rely for advice on another newly-appointed Vice-Premier, Wang Qishan.

Mr. Wang (59), is expected to oversee monetary policy and bank lending, crucial fiscal tools for managing China’s spiralling inflation.

Mr. Wang is a former head of the China Investment Bank and the China Construction Bank with extensive experience dealing with foreign business leaders, dating to his time in the late 1990s sorting out a massive bankruptcy case that involved several big foreign lenders.

Amongst the new State Councilors appointed on Monday was Dai Binguo, who takes over from Tang Jiaxuan to oversee foreign affairs. Mr Dai is China’s special representative for border negotiations with India.

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