What’s new: China has named Chen Yixin, secretary-general of the party’s political and legal affairs commission, as its new state security minister, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee announced Sunday.
Chen’s appointment follows his election into the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee during the 20th National Congress in mid-October.
The 63-year-old replaces the former head of the Ministry of State Security, Chen Wenqing, who became the party chief of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Central Committee after getting elected into the Politburo following the party congress.
The background: Chen Yixin served as deputy party secretary of Central China’s Hubei province and party chief of its capital Wuhan city between 2016 and 2018. He was also deputy head of a Covid-19 crisis team sent to Wuhan by China’s central authorities at the beginning of the outbreak.
Chen, a native of Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang, served as party head of the city between 2013 and 2015. He spent a total of around three decades of his career in his home province.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Bertrand Teo (bertrandteo@caixin.com)
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