Cross-toppling Wenzhou cadre promoted to aid Xi Jinping’s economic reform push
Chen Yixin, party boss of prosperous Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, has been appointed deputy director of the general office of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensive Deepening Reform.
It was announced by Liao Guoxun, personnel chief of Zhejiang, at a meeting of Wenzhou’s party committee on Tuesday, the Wenzhou Metropolis Daily reported.
Chen, 56, would be a full-time deputy director of the office, the announcement said.
The leading group is headed by Xi, and other members include Premier Li Keqiang and other top cadres.
Chen was a deputy director of the general office of Zhejiang’s party committee when Xi was party boss of the coastal province. He has no experience outside the province, according to his résumé.
As party boss of Wenzhou, known by some as “China’s Jerusalem” due to its large population of Christians, Chen is understood to have played a leading role in a controversial campaign to demolish crucifixes on private churches, in the name of clearing illegal construction.
The campaign allowed “no individual, department or group to be above the law”, he was quoted as saying in the party mouthpiece Zhejiang Daily in April.
