By Eduardo Baptista
BEIJING, Oct 24 (Reuters) – China’s ruling Communist Party announced key personnel changes in six provinces on Saturday, including two new provincial party chiefs and six officials positioned to become governors, before it holds a closed-door conclave in Beijing from October 26 to 29.
The official focus of the secretive meeting, also known as a plenum, in the Chinese capital is expected to be party governance and discipline, though personnel issues could also feature.
Here are the appointments:
• State Council Vice Secretary-General Wang Zhijun was named Communist Party secretary of the southern province of Hunan, replacing Shen Xiaoming
• Wang is a full member of the Central Committee, the largest of the party’s top decision-making bodies
• Mo Gaoyi, a vice minister at the party’s publicity department and director of the State Council Information Office, was named party secretary of the southwestern province of Yunnan, replacing Wang Ning
• Xie Weijiang, Hunan’s deputy party secretary and party chief of Yueyang, a city in the province’s northeast, was named secretary of the provincial government’s party group, signalling he is set to succeed Governor Mao Weiming
• Guo Ningning, Fujian’s deputy party secretary and party chief of the provincial capital Fuzhou, was named secretary of the provincial government’s party group, signalling she is set to become governor
• Lin Tao was named Fujian deputy party secretary, while Qin Haixiang replaced Guo as Fuzhou party chief
• Zhuge Yujie, previously deputy party secretary of central Hubei province, was named deputy party secretary of the northwestern province of Qinghai and secretary of its provincial government’s party group, signalling he is set to become governor
• Chen Yongqi, southern Jiangxi’s deputy party secretary and head of its political and legal affairs commission, was named secretary of the provincial government’s party group, signalling he is set to become governor. His predecessor, Ye Jianchun, was placed under investigation in August for alleged disciplinary violations
• Zhao Chenxin was named deputy party secretary of the northern province of Hebei and secretary of the provincial government’s party group, signalling he is set to succeed Governor Wang Zhengpu
• Liu Qifan, previously deputy party secretary of Qinghai, was named deputy party secretary of Yunnan and secretary of the provincial government’s party group, signalling he is set to succeed Governor Wang Yubo
• Provincial legislatures must formally elect the gubernatorial appointments, but that is generally a procedural step after the party’s decision
(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Alison Williams)
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