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Two Sessions 2023
EconomyChina Economy

China’s ‘two sessions’ 2023: central bank, finance chiefs retain spots in cabinet shake-up

  • Legislature confirms top roles for Yi Gang and Liu Kun as authorities confront financial headwinds
  • Age and political status are becoming less of a factor in cabinet appointments, analyst says

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People’s Bank of China governor Yi Gang. Photo: AP
Frank Tangin Beijing

China’s legislature has kept the leading roles at the central bank and the Ministry of Finance unchanged, retaining two key members of the new government’s economic hierarchy as the country looks to double down on curbing stubborn financial risks and technological bottlenecks during President Xi Jinping’s third five-year term.

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And the retention of the two senior officials, Yi Gang and Liu Kun – both of whom are past retirement age and no longer members of the Communist Party’s elite Central Committee – also suggests a new political logic is at work, with the decision-making power shifting to the party apparatus, according to some analysts.
The officials were nominated by new Premier Li Qiang and confirmed by the National People’s Congress on Sunday.

Also confirmed as vice-premiers were Ding Xuexiang, He Lifeng, Zhang Guoqing and Liu Guozhong. And Zheng Shanjie was confirmed to replace He as chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, the top economic planner.

The ministers for commerce, industry, agriculture, education and technology will also stay in the new cabinet.

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Analysts say the new financial line-up will have to continue the arduous task of defusing deep-seated problems in the world’s second-largest economy, managing the fallout from overseas policies, and cultivating the country’s technological ambitions.

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