New China vice-president Li seen as change advocate
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Li Yuanchao (foreground centre), stands up while he is announced as the nation's vice president during a plenary session of the National People's Congress held in Beijing's Great Hall of the People Thursday, March 14, 2013. Mr Li, who was tapped as China's new vice-president on Thursday, is a veteran Communist official with impeccable party credentials who is also seen as a voice for reform.-- PHOTO: AP
BEIJING (AFP) - Mr Li Yuanchao, who was tapped as China's new vice-president on Thursday, is a veteran Communist official with impeccable party credentials who is also seen as a voice for reform.
Mr Li, 62, has long advocated for better standards of governance in the one-party state - a key demand of disgruntled citizens angry over corruption and mismanagement.
He is a member of the party's 25-strong Politburo, and formerly head of its powerful Organisation Department, which is in charge of bureaucrats' careers.
Like new president Xi Jinping, also formally appointed at the National People's Congress, Mr Li is a "princeling" - someone from a family with prominent party, revolutionary or military ties. His father was vice-mayor of Shanghai.
