Beijing, Mar 11 Deputies of the National People's Congress approved the appointment of a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo Central Committee of the Communist Party of China Li Qiang as premier of the State Council.
Li Qiang was nominated by Chinese President Xi Jinping, and immediately after the announcement of the voting results, he signed a decree on the appointment. The premier's term of office is five years, the same person can hold this post for no more than two terms.
Now Li Qiang will have to form a government and nominate candidates for the positions of vice premiers, ministers and heads of departments. They must be approved by MPs tomorrow morning.
The NPC session will close on March 13, after which Li Qiang will hold his first press conference as premier of the State Council.
Li Qiang will replace Li Keqiang, who led the government for ten years during the difficult period of the “trade war” with the United States and the pandemic. Li Qiang is considered a rising star in Chinese politics with a wealth of experience in technology and economic development. At the 20th CCP Congress last October, the 63-year-old politician joined the Politburo Standing Committee and was ranked second in the party hierarchy. Born in eastern Zhejiang, Li Qiang spent most of his career there. From 2003-2007, Xi Jinping was the secretary of the Provincial Party Committee there. In 2011, Li Qiang became deputy head of the party committee of Zhejiang province, in 2012-2016 he was its governor, in 2016-2017 he headed the party committee of neighboring Jiangsu province, and from October 2017 to October 28, 2022 he was the head of the city committee of the CPC of Shanghai .
Even last year, experts called him the favorite in the race for the premiership, although they noted that his position was somewhat shaken after Shanghai, under his leadership, was able to cope with the spring outbreak of coronavirus and a large-scale lockdown with great difficulty.