China's rubber-stamp parliament on Saturday confirmed Li Qiang as the country's new premier after his name was proposed by President Xi Jinping. A close ally of Xi, the 63-year-old will now occupy the No.2 spot in the country.
Qiang, who oversaw last year's stringent Covid-19 lockdown in Shanghai, is expected to oversee matters of the Chinese economy which has been struggling due to three years of 'zero-Covid' restrictions. Qiang will lead the mission to revive China's economy after the country registered a three per cent GDP growth last year, one of its lowest in decades. China has set a target of five per cent GDP growth for 2023. Li’s experience leading economically important regions — in addition to Shanghai, he also held top posts in affluent Zhejiang and Jiangsu Provinces — has fueled some hopes that he will promote business-friendly policies, the New York Times reported. According to reports, Qiang played a key role in bringing Tesla to Shanghai – the company’s first factory outside the United States.
Qiang is expected to galvanise the private sector as well as foreign investments in an attempt to dispel the impression that the government, which resorted to crackdown against top business houses like Alibaba, is reverting to the state-owned enterprises, Reuters stated.
He replaces Li Keqiang who became premier in 2013. Keqiang's powers were curbed by Xi, who placed allies in key strategic positions over him. In fact, Keqiang had voiced his concerns about the economic impact of the pandemic and restrictions. However, analysts say Qiang might play a larger role than his predecessor due to his proximity to Xi. Qiang grew close to Xi when they worked together in provincial roles earlier. Li worked for Xi in a secretarial role when the latter was governor of the native Zhejiang province in the mid-2000s. After Xi became president in 2012, Li became Zhejiang governor himself, then the communist boss of nearby Jiangsu province and in 2017, Shanghai party secretary, Bloomberg reported.
During the Communist Party Congress in October, Qiang was appointed to the number-two role on the Politburo Standing Committee. This was seen as his first step toward the elevation as premier. Xi has been elevating his loyalists into key positions, as he tightens power and bagged a historic third term as president.
Details of Qiang’s economic programme are expected to be revealed on Monday, when he gives his first remarks as premier.
