Ex-Jiangxi party boss elevated
The National People's Congress Standing Committee yesterday approved Meng Jianzhu as public security minister, replacing Zhou Yongkang, who has been elevated to the party's top echelon.
The appointment, which was widely expected, is part of sweeping reshuffles of top party and government posts rippling from the promotion of four political stars to the Politburo Standing Committee during the 17th National Congress.
Mr Meng, 60, former party boss of Jiangxi, will head the nation's police forces. The Jiangsu native climbed the ladder in Shanghai and was seen as a protege of former president Jiang Zemin .
He became vice-mayor of Shanghai in 1993 and the city's deputy party secretary in 1996. He took the top party job in Jiangxi - a Communist Party revolutionary base and home province of Vice-President Zeng Qinghong - in 2001.
Having spent six years in Jiangxi, Mr Meng owes his promotion largely to Mr Zeng, 68, who relinquished his Politburo Standing Committee position at the congress.
Mr Meng's appointment came a day after the announcement that Yu Zhengsheng would be Shanghai party boss. He replaces Xi Jinping, who is tipped as the frontrunner to succeed Hu Jintao , the president and party general secretary, in 2012.