Officials lose top jobs in reshuffle
TWO senior government officials in charge of domestic trade and taxation have been removed from their positions.
The State Council yesterday announced Bai Meiqing was no longer vice-minister of internal trade and director of the State Grain Reserve Administration.
And Jin Xin was relieved of his deputy directorship of the State Administration of Taxation.
Agriculture, trade and taxation have posed the toughest problems to the implementation of reforms.
Analysts said that to ensure a thorough implementation of central policies, the leadership was ready to remove government officials and party cadres found to be unable to carry out the measures.
The Cabinet's announcement via a dispatch by Xinhua (the New China News Agency) yesterday did not give reasons for the removal of Mr Bai and Mr Jin.
A native of Sichuan, the 64-year-old Mr Bai had been a deputy secretary-general of the State Council and a deputy secretary-general of the party's Leading Group on Finance and Economics.
His former superior at the Ministry of Internal Trade, Zhang Haoruo, was yesterday appointed as Vice-Minister in charge of the State Commission for Restructuring the Economy.
Mr Bai's shoes are filled by Luo Zhiling, former vice-minister of the State Planning Commission.
Mr Jin, 70, had been head of the taxation administration for six years.
He became a deputy director last year when Minister of Finance Liu Zhongli was named as director in a bid to strengthen supervision of tax reform.
Other personnel reshuffles announced yesterday included the appointment of Ma Kai as a Vice-Minister of the State Planning Commission.
A vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xu Guanhua, was appointed Vice-Minister in charge of the State Science and Technology Commission.
