Mr Li was among four vice premiers approved by the nearly 3,000 delegates to the National People's Congress. -- PHOTO: AFP

Mr Li was among four vice premiers approved by the nearly 3,000 delegates to the National People's Congress in a vote coming a day before the close of the 14-day session. There were four candidates for the four positions.

The others included Beijing ex-mayor Wang Qishan and Zhang Dejiang, the former top party official in south China's Guangdong province.

Hui Liangyu, a member of China's mainly Muslim Hui minority, was renamed to a vice premiership.

Monday's move is seen likely to put him at the head the government when Premier Wen's term ends in 2013.

Mr Wen was given a second term by the parliament on Sunday, a day after the National People's Congress named Mr Hu to another five-year term as president.

The appointments had been expected since a top Communist Party meeting in October renamed Mr Hu and Mr Wen to their top party posts for a second and last five-year term.

In the same meeting, Mr Li was given an elite party position, along with Vice-President Xi Jinping, confirming speculation that the two were political heirs-in-waiting and expected to spearhead the next generation of leaders.

Five state councillors, or officials at the vice-premier level, were also named Monday, including Liu Yangdong, Liang Guanglie, Meng Jianzhu, Ma Kai and Dai Bingguo. -- AFP

Zhou Xiaochuan stays as China's central banker
Zhou Xiaochuan was renamed to a second five-year term as central bank governor Monday, shoring up his role as one of the world's most watched financial figures.

Mr Zhou was nominated as governor of the People's Bank of China by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who himself was renamed to a second five-year term on Sunday.

Educated largely in Beijing, 60-year-old Zhou has been a voice of economic reform since taking government office in the mid-1980s and has consistently stood for greater economic openness and market-oriented reforms.

He will be tasked with reining in inflation that stood at 8.7 per cent in February, the highest in nearly 12 years, while also curbing overheating brought on by excessive liquidity and bubbling stock and real estate markets.

Since being named bank governor in 2002, Mr Zhou has used the macroeconomic controls at his disposal such as interest rate hikes and loan policy to keep China's economy churning at a 'fast and healthy' pace.

Chinese central bank governors remain much less independent than in many developed economies, and essentially they have no policy making authority of their own, but must listen to dictates from the Communist Party and government.

Even so, Zhou's every word is keenly assessed by the markets for clues about future measures.

'There is definitely room for more interest rate hikes,' he told journalists at a briefing on the sidelines of the parliamentary meeting.

Mr Zhou also said he would be furthering a decade-long policy to boost domestic demand in an effort to shield China's economy from a deepening global downturn and rising world prices for resources such as oil.

'In terms of domestic demand, we're especially talking about boosting consumer demand. So we must especially consider the impact of interest rate changes on consumer spending,' he said.

'There is a hope that people will reduce their savings and boost consumption. Interest rate policy will have an impact on this.'