Confidant of President Xi Jinping
Beijing: Li Qiang, 63, a close supporter of President Xi Jinping, is China’s new prime minister.
Qiang won 2,936 votes out of 2,947 votes in the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament, on Saturday. Li Keqiang (67), who has been the Prime Minister for ten years, had earlier announced that he was leaving politics. Keqiang, who was Xi Jinping’s opponent in the 2012 presidential election, has recently been unhappy with Xi’s actions.
The parliament approved Xi Jinping as the president for the third time yesterday. If Xi was chosen by chance, it was not repeated in Qiang’s case. Three voted against and eight abstained.
The Chinese Communist Party had earlier decided to make Qiang the Prime Minister. His name was nominated for the post of Prime Minister by Xi Jinping himself in Parliament on Saturday.
After the election, the president announced in parliament that Qiang had been chosen as prime minister. Li Qiang, a confidant of Xi Jinping, is also second in the party to him.