China appoints head of top political advisory body
China took another step toward completing its leadership handover Monday with the appointment of an official best known for his communist pedigree to head a top government advisory body.
Yu Zhengsheng was selected by a vote of 2,188 to 4 to head the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a companion body to the country's rubber-stamp legislature. There was no other candidate in the CPPCC vote.
Yu's selection is the latest step in China's once-a-decade political transition and kicks off a week of formal government leadership changes that were foreshadowed by promotions at the Communist Party's congress in November. In China, the party is the pre-eminent political power and top government posts are held by its leaders. Yu was among seven leaders who ascended to the party's top inner circle at the November conclave which also anointed Xi Jinping as general secretary. Yu is ranked fourth in the party.
The governor of the People's Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan, was named one of the vice chairmen of the advisory body, suggesting that he might be preparing to leave the central bank after 11 years at the helm.
This week, the largely ceremonial legislature known as the National People's Congress will finalize the transition and approve appointments to top government posts: Xi is certain to succeed Hu Jintao as president while Li Keqiang, the party's No. 2, is to be named premier, in charge of the Cabinet.
When fully installed into government posts, Xi's administration will confront domestic challenges that include public anger over official corruption that pervades all levels of society, and the degradation of the country's water, air and soil that has resulted from decades of rapid economic growth. A rising middle class, empowered by social networking technology, is increasingly vocal about its demands for change and willing to organize demonstrations to that effect. Yu, 67, was Communist Party chief in the financial hub of Shanghai until shortly after his latest party promotion.