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News: Former Chongqing Vice Mayor Li Dianxun (李殿勋) was appointed Hunan CCPSC member and Political and Legal Affairs Commission Chief today. Quick Take: Following Huang Guanchun (黄关春)’s appointment yesterday, Li Dianxun will now take up his seat as Hunan Political and Legal Affairs Commission Chief. Li’s entire political career is based in Chongqing since 1991, and has previously been serving in Chongqing Legislative Affairs Office for a long period of time. He was appointed Chongqing Vice Mayor in January 2018 during the city’s massive personnel restructuring, after the ouster of the “tiger” Sun Zhengcai and a number of related officials. Li’s appointment today is the 6thadjustments of provincial political and legal affairs commission posts since 2019.

News: Hunan CCPSC member, Political and Legal Affairs Commission Chief and People’s Congress Vice Chairman Huang Guanchun (黄关春) stepped down from the posts in CCPSC today, and will now be only taking the seat in Hunan People’s Congress. Quick Take: Born in 1959, Huang is now aged 60 and has just reached the retirement age for vice-provincial level officials. In line with CCP’s tight uphold on its age limit per usual, Huang should step down from the “frontline”, namely the CCPSC, to prepare for full retirement. Upon Huang’s appointment notice today, Hunan is now lacking both Political and Legal Affairs Commission Chief and Organization Chief.

News: CCP Central Committee Organization Department Deputy Chief Zhou Zuyi (周祖翼) was promoted to State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform (SCOPSR) Chief today. Quick Take: A Zhejiang local, Zhou’s political career started in Shanghai Tongji University after getting his PhD degree, and was appointed in 2011 as Tongji’s Party Secretary (vice-ministerial level). He was further promoted to Central Organization Department in 2014, as the Director of the No.2 Bureau of Cadre Administration, one of the most powerful bureaus in the department that took main charge of personnel-related issues. In October 2016 he was again promoted to Central Organization Deputy Chief. Aged 54, Zhou will now become the youngest among all 16 chiefs of committees and offices under CCP Central Committee. Interestingly, the career trajectory of Zhou’s predecessor Zhang Jinan (张纪南) looked very similar to Zhou’s—Zhang was also central organization deputy chief before being appointed SCOPSR chief, and was concurrently appointed Minister of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) in March 2018.

News: The State Council has decided to form a leading group on employment (国务院就业工作领导小组) on 22 May, and has appointed Vice Premier Hu Chunhua (胡春华) as its chief. Main duties of this leading group include coordinating national employment work; researching major issues in employment; working on related regulations, plans and policies etc. Quick Take: Employment has evidently become China’s “political red line”—the country has vowed to create more than 11 million urban jobs and maintain the unemployment rate of 5.5% as its primary goals in 2019. However, as tensions with the US and the continuing domestic economic downturn have further complicated the situation, this leading group is created to prevent employment from worsening off and causing potential disruptions that could damage social stability. This fatal task is assigned to Vice Premier Hu Chunhua, who has previously headed multiple leading groups dedicated to CCP’s key initiatives, including State Council Leading Group of Poverty Alleviation and Development and Central Rural Work Leading Group.

News: Inner Mongolia Vice Chairman Zhang Shaochun (张韶春) was appointed the region’s CCPSC member and Secretary-General today. Quick Take: Zhang started his political career in 1983 in central government, and had since served in multiple ministries and commissions, but mostly taking the secretary position. In 2005 he was transferred to his home province Anhui to become Anhui NDRC Deputy Head, and has since been promoted within the province until January 2018, when he was reshuffled again to serve as Inner Mongolia Vice Chairman. Interestingly, Yang Weidong (杨伟东) was the other Vice Chairman appointed along with Zhang in 2018, who also got a new appointment in March as Inner Mongolia CCPSC member and Organization Chief. Upon Zhang’s appointment today, he will now take up the position left by Luo Yonggang (罗永纲), who was transferred to Hubei as a CCPSC member and Political and Legal Affairs Commission Chief on 28 April.

News: SASAC Party Secretary Hao Peng (郝鹏) is concurrently appointed SASAC Chairman today, filling up the vacancy left by Xiao Yaqing (肖亚庆), who departed for another post as SAMR Chief yesterday. Xiao is to succeed Zhang Mao (张茅), who has reached the mandatory retirement age of 65. Quick Take: Hao and Xiao shared office for two and a half years at SASAC since December 2016, but with its dual-leadership system, Hao used to be mainly in charge of party-related issues and Xiao took care of more administrative and operational matters, such as overseeing the SOE reforms. Upon Hao’s appointment today, he is now lifted to be in full charge of SASAC. Moreover, Hao Peng has extensive experience working in local governments, having served in Gansu, Tibet, and Qinghai respectively from 1999 to 2016. SASAC under his leadership will be better positioned to enable partnerships between central SOEs and local governments.

News: Former China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Chief Liu Shiyu (刘士余), who was transferred to All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives (ACFSMC) as Vice Party Secretary in January, turned himself in today to CCDI. Liu is now under investigation for violation of party displine and law. Quick Take: Liu had previously based his entire career in the financial sector—he spent ten years in PBOC and two years in Agricultural Bank of China, and was appointed CSRC chief in Feb 2016. In January this year Liu was replaced by Yi Huiman (易会满), and was transferred to ACFSMC, an institution established in the 1950s and now overseen by the State Council. Liu’s case is most likely related to the IPO of banks in his hometown Jiangsu Province and may have broader repercussions in the financial sector. Contact us for more in-depth analysis on Liu’s case. Fujian vice governor appointed secretary-general… News: Fujian Vice Governor Zheng Xincong (郑新聪) was appointed Fujian CCPSC member and Secretary-General today. Quick Take: A Fujian local, Zheng had been working for the province since 2001 and previously served in several prefectural-level cities. He was appointed Fujian Vice Governor in January 2018. Currently, Fujian is still lacking its Political and Legal Affairs Commissions Chief and Organization Department Chief.

News: Former Ningxia Organization Department Chairman Sheng Ronghua (盛荣华) was transferred to Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) as deputy director of its general office today. Quick Take: A Hunan local, Sheng had previously worked in Hunan province for 34 years until Feb 2017, when he was transferred to Ningxia as Organization Department chief. Interestingly, Sheng is now the only CAC general office deputy director with no prior experience in the cyber industry—both of his two other colleagues Yang Xiaowei (杨小伟) and Liu Liehong (刘烈宏) were leading central SOEs in telecommunication before their appointment to CAC. Moreover, there had been a notable wave of personnel reshuffling among provincial Organizational Department heads—Sheng’s appointment today is the 9thsince 2019. Now Jilin, Heilongjiang, Fujian, Jiangxi and Ningxia are all lacking their Organization Department chiefs. Personnel change in MFA continued… News: Former national counter-terrorism security commissioner Cheng Guoping (程国平) was appointed to the Department of External Security Affairs at MFA today. Quick Take：Cheng’s political career has been mostly based in MFA—his previous posts include Department of European and Central Asian Affairs Director-General, and ambassador to the Republic Kazakhstan. He was appointed MFA Vice Minister in 2011, but left MFA in 2016 for a special post as national counter-terrorism security commissioner, administered directly by the central government. Born in 1952, Cheng is now aged 67, already above the age limit set for vice-ministerial level official. His appointment today is a good indicator of the rising importance of external security in foreign affairs matters.

News: Former Heilongjiang Organization Department chief Wang Aiwen (王爱文) was transferred to Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) today as Vice Minister. Quick Take: Wang started his political career in 1987 in the then-Ministry of Labor, which was replaced by and integrated into the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MHRSS) in 1998. During his 18-year service, Wang was mainly in charge of employment-related matters. He was transferred to Heilongjiang in 2005, and had then been promoted within the province, and became the provincial Organization Department head in 2016. During his term in Heilongjiang, Wang has been widely praised for his capacity—especially his political performance in Yichun, where the city saw a GDP growth of almost 10% every year while he was serving as Party Secretary from 2011 to 2015. Now that he is appointed back to the central government, his role in MCA remains to be seen.