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China’s Communist Party
ChinaPolitics

China confirms Vice-Premier He Lifeng as head of new Communist Party finance body aimed at stronger control over sector

  • He attends meeting of Central Finance Commission, one of several organs established in March overhaul to give ruling party direct control in policy
  • Commission serves as primary planner for financial system, overseeing matters ranging from overall stability to overseas use of the yuan.

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He Lifeng, who was promoted to vice-premier in March, has taken on a bigger trade portfolio than his predecessor. Photo: Kyodo
Phoebe Zhang
Beijing confirmed a new role for Vice-Premier He Lifeng as head of a new Communist Party organisation on financial work as China’s ruling party seeks to strengthen control over the financial sector.
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According to an article from the People’s Bank of China, He on Friday attended a conference of the Central Finance Commission, which was among a handful of organs founded in a March overhaul aimed at giving the party more direct control over a wide range of policy areas.

The report, published on Monday, referred to He’s role as director of the general office of the commission – the first official confirmation of the vice-premier’s new title.

During the meeting, He stressed that the most important political task for those in the financial system was to study and carry out the “essence of the central financial work conference”, headed by President Xi Jinping in Beijing last week.

He said the party’s leadership in financial work must be strengthened and there must be more “inspection and rectification” of financial systems to promote strong financial supervision, risk prevention and high-quality development.

He will visit the United States from Wednesday to Friday as Beijing’s lead person for China-US economic and trade affairs – a title confirmed in July – at the invitation of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, according to China’s foreign ministry.

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Also at the meeting on Friday were He’s two deputies at the general office, executive deputy director Wang Jiang, former head of state-owned financial giant China Everbright Group, and Xia Xiande, former finance vice-minister, as well as Qin Bin, former deputy director of the supervisory commission of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

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