China's National People's Congress (NPC) approved Li Keqiang (
Li was among four vice-premiers approved by the nearly 3,000 delegates to the NPC in a vote coming a day before the close of the 14-day session.
There were four candidates for the four positions.
"It looks like he will be confirmed to succeed [Premier] Wen Jiabao [
The other three vice-premiers included former Beijing mayor Wang Qishan (王岐山) and Zhang Dejiang (張德江), the former top party official in Guangdong Province. Hui Liangyu (回良玉), a member of the Muslim Hui minority, was renamed as vice-premier.
Li, 52, rose through the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ranks succeeding Hu as head of the Communist Youth League, before polishing his political skills as head of Henan Province and Liaoning Province.
Yesterday's move was likely to put him at the head the government when Wen's term ends in 2013.
The appointments had been expected since a top CCP meeting in October renamed Hu and Wen to their top party posts for a second and last five-year term.
In the same meeting, Li was given an elite party position, along with Vice President Xi Jinping (
Five state councilors, or officials at the vice-premier level, were also named yesterday, including Liu Yangdong (劉延東), Liang Guanglie (梁光烈), Meng Jianzhu (孟建柱), Ma Kai (馬凱) and Dai Bingguo (戴秉國).
Other appointments approved by the nearly 3,000 members of the National People's Congress included top officials overseeing foreign trade and overseas relations, as well as the governor of the People's Bank of China.
This year's session was intended to focus on fighting inflation and preparing for the August Beijing Olympics, but that effort was diluted by major anti-Chinese protests among Tibetans that have spread from the regional capital Lhasa to other mainly Tibetan areas in western China.
Neither Hu -- the party secretary of Tibet during the last major protests in 1989 -- or Wen have commented publicly on the protests, in which dozens of people have reportedly been killed.
Wen is scheduled to hold a news conference today at the end of the two-week meeting of the National People's Congress at Beijing's colossal Great Hall of the People.
An experienced administrator, Wen serves chiefly as China's top economic official, leading efforts to cool increases in food prices that jumped by 23.3 percent last month, driving the overall inflation rate to a nearly 12-year high of 8.7 percent.
The CCP worries about a possible political backlash in a society where poor families spend up to half their incomes on food.
Inflation has in the past fueled protest movements, including the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square that were crushed by People's Liberation Army troops.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS