Senior diplomat Le Yucheng likely to head agency overseeing Chinese state broadcasting, sources say

Foreign vice-minister could take top job at the National Radio and Television Administration

It comes as Beijing is seeking to bolster its position in a narrative war with Washington and its allies

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Le Yucheng has appeared more regularly to explain China’s diplomatic stance in recent years. Photo: AP

Published: 11:00pm, 25 May 2022Updated: 9:18am, 26 May 2022

Foreign vice-minister Le Yucheng is likely to become the new head of China’s National Radio and Television Administration, according to people familiar with the discussion.

The sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media. If confirmed, the new job at the NRTA – which oversees and supervises state-owned television and radio in China – would give 58-year-old Le a ministerial ranking.

Le started his diplomatic career in the 1980s, in the foreign ministry department that oversaw ties with the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc. He worked at the Chinese embassy in Moscow twice and later served as the ambassador to Kazakhstan, and then to India.

He became a foreign vice-minister in 2018, handling the day-to-day operations of the ministry as its third-highest-ranking official. Le is also an alternate member of the Central Committee, which is composed of hundreds of the ruling Communist Party’s most powerful people.

If he is promoted to lead the NRTA, Le is likely to become a full member of the Central Committee during the party’s twice-a-decade national congress, which is expected to take place in autumn.

It comes as Beijing is seeking to bolster its position in a narrative war with Washington and its allies, with President Xi Jinping last year calling for this narrative power to be “proportional” to the country’s strength.