Advertisement
China’s ‘two sessions’ 2023: new team poised to strengthen Communist Party control over security amid emerging threats
- Beijing confirms Li Shangfu as defence minister, Wang Xiaohong as public security minister and Chen Yixin as minister of state security
- Observers expect them to play key role in reinforcing party’s command of security apparatus as country faces ‘warlike scenario’
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
5
A military aerospace veteran, a senior police officer and a seasoned Communist Party security hand will form the core team to handle China’s external and internal threats for the next five years, as the party consolidates its control over security matters.
Advertisement
Li Shangfu will be the country’s new defence minister, Wang Xiaohong the head of public security, and Chen Yixin in charge of state security in a cabinet line-up approved by the National People’s Congress on Sunday.
Li and Wang were also named as state councillors.
Li spent 31 years working at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwestern China, including 10 years as its director. He headed the equipment development department of the Central Military Commission from 2017 to 2022 and previously served as deputy commander of the People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force.
Wang is the first professional police officer to lead the Ministry of Public Security in 24 years. He served as Fujian’s deputy chief of public security in the early 2000s, when President Xi Jinping was the province’s No 2 official, and was responsible for Xi’s personal security during that time.
Advertisement
Three years after Xi rose to become party leader in 2012, Wang became Beijing’s chief of police and was quickly promoted to China’s deputy minister of public security.
Advertisement