China Replaces Yunnan, Hunan Party Chiefs; 'Publicity Line' Dominates Key Southwestern Posts

Mo Gaoyi Appointed Yunnan Party Secretary; Wang Zhijun Appointed Hunan Party Secretary

China has appointed new party and government leaders in six provinces ahead of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders enter the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to attend the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC). Yonhap News Agency.

According to Lianhe Zaobao, a Chinese-language daily published in Singapore, and other outlets, the Communist Party of China announced on the 24th the names of incoming provincial-level officials in Yunnan, Hunan, Qinghai, Fujian, Hebei and Jiangxi. The appointments were announced shortly after the Political Bureau of the Central Committee held a meeting on the 23rd. In China, the top party and government posts at the provincial level are typically decided after deliberation at a Political Bureau meeting.

The party appointed Mo Gaoyi, deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and director of the State Council Information Office, as party secretary of Yunnan Province, and Wang Zhijun, deputy secretary-general of the State Council, as party secretary of Hunan Province. In China, a provincial party secretary is the region's top political official and oversees the entire province. The position ranks higher than that of governor, who is primarily responsible for administrative affairs.

Mo will succeed Wang Ning, the former party secretary, who is 65 this year. Mo is reportedly the only provincial-level party secretary in China with no experience as a member or alternate member of the CPC Central Committee.

With Mo's appointment, the party secretaries of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan in southwestern China will all be from the publicity sector, having served as deputy heads of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee. The department is a key party organ that oversees the promotion of party ideology, the media and publishing, public opinion management, and external publicity policy.

Xu Lin, Guizhou's party secretary, has served as deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, director of the State Council Information Office and director of the Cyberspace Administration of China. Wang Xiaohui, party secretary of Sichuan Province, has also served as deputy head and executive deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee.

Among the governor appointments, officials born in the 1970s made notable gains. Xie Weijiang, deputy party secretary of Hunan Province, has been nominated as the province's governor. If formally appointed, he will become China's second-youngest provincial governor, after Lu Dongliang, governor of Shanxi Province.

Guo Ningning, who was promoted to party secretary of Fujian Province's leading party members group, is a finance expert who previously headed the Singapore branch of Bank of China. If formally appointed, she will become China's first female provincial governor born in the 1970s. Zhu Guoyu, deputy party secretary of Hubei Province, who has been regarded as a leading contender among vice-ministerial-level officials born in the 1970s, has also been nominated as governor of Qinghai Province.

In addition, Liu Qifan, former deputy party secretary of Qinghai Province, has been nominated as governor of Yunnan Province, while Zhao Chenxin and Chen Yongqi have each been promoted to party secretary of the leading party members groups of the provincial governments of Hebei and Jiangxi, respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.