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Former internet regulator Xu Lin named party chief of China’s big data hub Guizhou
- Xu, a protégé of Chinese president Xi Jinping, has headed state broadcasting agency since June
- In his various propaganda chief roles, he has been a firm advocate and enforcer of Xi’s vision on media
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China has appointed Xu Lin, former top internet regulator and protégé of President Xi Jinping, as Communist Party chief of Guizhou province, a big data hub in the southwest of the country.
Xu’s appointment, announced Friday by state news agency Xinhua, is part of a personnel reshuffle following the party’s 20th national congress in October.
Changes to key party and state jobs are expected to continue until China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, holds its annual meeting in March.
Xu, 59, has been head of the National Radio and Television Administration, which oversees state broadcasting in China, since June.
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From 2016 to 2018, he was director of the country’s internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China.
In 2018, he was appointed director of the State Council Information Office, which handles the release of important official information and national policies, especially to the foreign media.
Xu began his political career in Shanghai, where he was born and raised. He became a member of the standing committee of the municipal party committee – his first position at a deputy ministerial level – in 2007, two months after Xi was appointed party secretary of Shanghai.
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