Chongqing confirms new vice-mayor
Chongqing's municipal people's congress ratified the appointment of He Ting as vice-mayor and public security chief yesterday, taking over the portfolio formerly held by Wang Lijun, who is being investigated after an apparent defection attempt last month.
He, formerly a Qinghai vice-governor and police chief, was transferred to Chongqing after Bo Xilai was sacked as the municipality's Communist Party secretary. The municipal people's congress also formally announced Wang's dismissal as vice-mayor yesterday.
Sources in Chongqing say that Guan Haixiang , who was appointed party boss of Chongqing's public security bureau after Wang's reported defection attempt at the US consulate in Chengdu , Sichuan , was likely to take up another key post as organisation department chief, in charge of party personnel matters in the municipality.
He, 50, worked at the Ministry of Public Security's criminal investigation department from 1983 to 2007. He was party boss of Gansu's public security bureau from 2007 to 2008 and party boss of Qinghai's public security bureau from 2008.
Many were expecting a municipal leadership reshuffle after Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang flew in to fill the political vacuum left by the departure of Bo, who was sacked on March 15, a day after the annual session of the National People's Congress closed. Bo had been Chongqing's party boss since 2007.
Zhang's priority is to stabilise the civil service and police and remove Bo's influence in the municipality by replacing the heads of major party departments such as the organisation department and the publicity department.
Guan, known for his strong connections with the Communist Youth League, the power base of party general secretary Hu Jintao, is one of two rising stars in Chongqing's new administration. The other is Cai Mingzhao , deputy head of the party's central publicity department, who is expected to become Chongqing's party publicity chief.
Chongqing also announced yesterday the appointment of 38 chief prosecutors at the county and district level. Chongqing's police, judiciary and prosecutors were at the centre of a controversy over Bo's anti-triad campaign, with allegations of widespread abuses during interrogations. The jailing of lawyer Li Zhuang in 2010 for fabricating evidence during his defence of Chongqing crime boss Gong Gangmo also sparked widespread concerns over legal irregularities.
The Chongqing Daily quoted Chongqing Higher People's Court president Qian Feng yesterday as pledging to carry out judicial reform. The court would improve the transparency of judicial procedures to protect the public's right to knowledge and expression and facilitate the filing of individual lawsuits, the paper quoted Qian as telling a meeting on Thursday.
Zhang vowed on Wednesday to maintain stability and continue the economic opening up of the southwestern municipality.
1997
The year the Chongqing municipality was created •It had a population of 28,846,200 as of November, 2010
