The two sessions in 2023 will be the year of the “change” of the government, and the cabinet of the new Prime Minister Li Qiang has been approved and formed.
Ding Xuexiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, became the executive vice premier. The other three are He Lifeng, former head of the National Development and Reform Commission, Liu Guozhong, former secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, and Zhang Guoqing, former secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee.
As for the five state councilors who also assist the Prime Minister, they include the newly appointed Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu, the re-elected Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong, the Secretary-General of the State Council Wu Zhenglong, the former Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee Chen Yiqin, and the re-elected Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
Ding Xuexiang led the Vice Premier and State Councilor to take the oath of office. AP pictures
The outside world has noticed that among the newly appointed State Councilors and Vice Premiers of the State Council, relatively few of them were directly promoted by ministries and commissions of the State Council. Most of them are promoted by local officials who once ruled one side.
Ding Xuexiang worked in the central government for many years in the past. He was once the director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee. He was also officially promoted to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee last year. He Lifeng is from the National Development and Reform Commission, which is known as a “small state affairs”. Liu Guozhong once served as the secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, and Zhang Guoqing once served as the Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Party Committee.
Qin Gang, who officially took over as Minister of Foreign Affairs at the end of December last year, is now serving as State Councilor again, becoming a “leader of the party and state”, which means that Qin Gang has been promoted to two levels from the deputy ministerial level within three months, which is very rare in Chinese politics. It also highlights Beijing’s strategic needs for the United States.
Chen Yiqin, who once ruled Guizhou Province, was promoted to state councilor, becoming the only “deputy state-level” female official in the current government.
The National People’s Congress also elected the leaders of various ministries and commissions of the State Council. Except for Anhui Provincial Party Secretary Zheng Shanjie who replaced He Lifeng as the National Development and Reform Commission, and Central Military Commission member Li Shangfu who replaced Wei Fenghe as Minister of National Defense, most of the others were continued.
How to revive China’s economy after the epidemic will be the biggest challenge for the new State Council. The outside world is concerned that the 65-year-old Yi Gang is re-elected as the governor of the People’s Bank of China. At the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in October last year, he was widely expected to retire because he was not included in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The analysis pointed out that China’s financial reform is entering a deep water area, and not changing the coach shows China’s steady and steady attitude in response to changes in the situation.
Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao was also re-elected. He has fought against the US many times in the previous Sino-US trade war and has rich experience in fighting.
In the institutional reform plan of the State Council, the restructuring of the Ministry of Science and Technology is a major focus. We will promote and improve the new nationwide system, and break through the technical difficulties that have “stuck our necks” in recent years. This is an important task with long-term continuity, so Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang was also re-elected.
Among the new team of the State Council, Li Shangfu, the new Minister of National Defense and a member of the Central Military Commission, is the most talked about by the overseas media. trend. The future war will be an unmanned war, a battle of advanced high-tech weapons and equipment. Unmanned aircraft, unmanned ships, and even robotic soldiers will appear on the battlefield instead of traditional soldiers. China is also vigorously developing a variety of new weapons including drones. equipment. The outside world believes that this is also the reason why Li Shangfu’s general assembly background was reused.
Li Shangfu, China’s new defense minister and member of the Central Military Commission.
On the other hand, the outside world is also concerned that Li Shangfu is the first general of the People’s Liberation Army sanctioned by the United States in history. According to data, on September 20, 2018, the US State Department announced that it was involved in a “major transaction” with Russia’s main arms exporter Rosoboronexport. “In accordance with the “Using Sanctions to Counter the Enemy of the United States Act” signed and entered into force in August 2017, sanctions were imposed on the then Central Military Commission’s Equipment Development Department and Minister Li Shangfu. The U.S. State Department said the sanctions were related to China’s purchase of 10 Su-35 fighter jets in 2017 and the S-400 surface-to-air missile system in 2018. The sanctions prohibit the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission and Li Shangfu himself from applying for export licenses and entering the U.S. financial system, adding him to the special designation list of the U.S. Treasury Department, and prohibiting U.S. citizens from doing business with it.
Purchasing weapons from Russia is a normal military trade. American politicians want to curb China’s illegal unilateral sanctions. They will find some Chinese companies or officials to sanction for “three days but two days”. This time it embarrasses the US Department of Defense. Defense Secretary Austin kept releasing reports earlier that he wanted to contact the Chinese Defense Minister to discuss the incident of the U.S. shooting down Chinese civilian gas.
US Secretary of Defense Austin. AP pictures
Wei Fenghe was about to retire at that time, and it was normal to study the relationship with the US military only after the new defense chief took over. But now that Li Shangfu has decided to “take the wave” and is willing to talk to Austin, how will Austin respond? Contact shows that the so-called “sanctions” of the United States are fundamentally wrong policies. If you don’t accept the wave, the US Department of Defense says every day that it hopes to communicate directly.
The Minister of Defense of China will also be responsible for foreign military exchanges. In the future, he will also contact the Ministers of Defense of different countries. The Shangri-La Security Dialogue is held in Singapore every year. As an important member of the region, it is impossible for Singapore not to invite the Minister of Defense of China. Participate, at that time, this general who is also “sanctioned” by the United States will openly carry out foreign affairs activities, which is undoubtedly a “demonstration” to the United States. subtle.
This problem is entirely caused by the crazy unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States, and the embarrassing consequences will of course be borne by the United States itself. As for, some foreign media analysts believe that the relationship between China and the United States is currently tense, and China may want to take the United States into the diplomatic arena through this move. Some people familiar with the political situation in Beijing believe that this is not the so-called “China wants to deliberately embarrass the United States.” Whether it is sanctioned by the United States will not be a condition for the central government to consider the candidate for the Minister of Defense. The appointment of Li Shangfu only shows that China will follow its own That is to say, if we set the goal of development, we can choose whoever is needed for military development as the chief of defense, and we will not be affected by the interference of the United States.
hair clap
**Blog articles are at your own risk and do not represent the position of the company**
