Xi Jinping to head reform panel, taking another role from premier

President Xi Jinping will personally take charge of a new panel that will steer the country's reform agenda - a significant expansion of his authority as he moves to consolidate power.

Xi's chairmanship of the "leading group for overall reform", which was affirmed yesterday by the Communist Party's elite Politburo, gives the president more direct authority over changes to economic plans and other domestic policies.

Such policy planning has in recent decades been overseen by the premier, and moving it under Xi is seen as a political blow to Li Keqiang , who holds that office.

"The appointment has confirmed that China is now under the Xi Jinping administration, rather than under the Xi-Li administration, as some people have called it," said Zhang Lifan , a political analyst formerly with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The creation of the reform and security panels after the Central Committee's plenum in November led many analysts to speculate that Xi was on track to become the country's most powerful figure since paramount leader Deng Xiaoping retired two decades ago.

Xi is also general secretary of the party and chairman of the Central Military Commission.