Chongqing confirmed yesterday that the interim Communist Party chief of the city's police force will take up a new job in the latest reshuffle following the removal of city party boss Bo Xilai.
Guan Haixiang, who succeeded Bo's right-hand man Wang Lijun in February as the party secretary of Chongqing's police force, has been named executive deputy head of the city's United Front Work Department, whose main function is to manage relations with the non-Communist Party elite, the government-affiliated Cqnews.net news portal reported yesterday.
'The standing committee of the municipal Communist Party decided the appointment on March 23,' the report said, citing the Chongqing government's press office. 'The standing committee has full political trust in comrade Guan and fully approves his work performance.'
At the same time, 56-year-old Xu Songnan, who only joined the city's party standing committee a few days ago, was named chief of the party's organisation department in the southwestern municipality, the online version of People's Daily reported yesterday.
Hours before the official confirmation, a news portal affiliated with the Beijing-based Economic Daily reported that Guan attended a meeting on Wednesday with the Chongqing branch of the China Jiu San (September 3) Society, one of eight so-called non-Communist parties on the mainland, in his new capacity, triggering speculation that he had left the police post.
A rising political star from the Communist Youth League, Guan, 43, has been tipped to eventually head the United Front Work Department in Chongqing, with speculation rife that its current chief, Fan Zhaobing , 54, will soon replace He Shizhong as head of the city's propaganda department.
