China names new justice and environment ministers
- Liaoning governor appointed to justice post while deputy chief promoted to take lead on environment
Beijing has announced the appointment of a new justice minister and named a non-Communist Party member as its environment boss.
The appointment of Tang Yijun as justice minister, and Huang Runqiu as minister of ecology and environment was announced by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the country’s top legislative body, on Wednesday.
Tang, former governor of the northeastern province of Liaoning, was largely expected to take on the new role after taking part in a top law-and-order conference in Beijing about a week ago alongside domestic security chief Guo Shengkun.
Tang, 59, spent almost four decades climbing the political ladder in Zhejiang province in the country’s east, where President Xi Jinping served as provincial party secretary for five years from 2002.
While in Zhejiang, Tang held senior party positions in the security apparatus both at the provincial and municipal levels. He was promoted to be an alternate member of the party’s Central Committee, its policymaking body, three years ago.
Wang Jiangyu, director of Centre for Chinese and Comparative Law at City University of Hong Kong, said that unlike in Western democracies, China’s Ministry of Justice traditionally played a limited role in the party-led state’s hierarchy.
But he said the ministry had taken on extra significance since its 2018 merger with the State Council’s Legislative Affairs Office.
“The ministry has begun to play a more prominent role as it is now the State Council’s body responsible for drafting laws and regulations,” Wang said citing the Foreign Investment Law and its implementation rules as an example.
Huang, 57, takes over as environment minister after four years as deputy minister.
The career geologist is a member of the Jiusan Society, one of the eight officially recognised political parties in China. He is also a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Huang has a doctorate in geology from Chengdu University of Technology and was head of the State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection from 2001 until he was named a deputy environment minister in 2016.