China’s parliament names US-sanctioned Gen Li Shangfu as defence minister

China's rubber-stamp parliament— the National People's Congress (NPC)—on Sunday gave approval to key appointments in the government as it gears towards tackling economic challenges on the home front and abroad.

Among the key appointments was one of the defence ministerand Li Shangfu, a US-sanctioned military general, was nominated for the top post.

The 65-year-old general will succeed Wei Fenghe, who had recently stepped down from the Central Military Commission at the Communist Party’s congress in October.

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Before being elevated to the top post, Gen Li was appointed to Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, thus becoming the first soldier on the body from the army’s Strategic Support Force, the branch created in 2015 and restructured to focus on space, cyber, political and electronic warfare, according to Bloomberg.

He was sanctioned by the US in 2018 for allegedly facilitating the transfer of Su-35 combat aircraft and S-400 missile system equipment from Russian arms seller Rosoboronexport to China.

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At that time, Gen Li was the director of the Equipment Development Department at the top military commission overseeing Chinese defence technology.

Moreover, the US State Department had also imposed sanctions on Gen Li and his department, along with Russian entities, for their alleged role in interference of the United States election process, and “unacceptable behaviour in eastern Ukraine, and other malign activities”, the statement said.

In other notable appointments, China's Premier Li Qiang nominated Ding Xuexiang, Zhang Guoqing, Liu Guozhong and He Lifeng as vice premiers.

China also decided to retain Liu Kun, 66, as the finance minister and Yi Gang, 65, as the governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC)—as both men have reached the official retirement age of 65.

Wang Wentao was retained as the commerce minister, while Zheng Shanjie, governor and deputy party secretary of Zhejiang province, was approved to take over as head of the National Development and Reform Commission, the powerfulstateplanner.

(With inputs from agencies)

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