China names new public security chief

China has promoted Wang Xiaohong, who worked with President Xi Jinping at the provincial level in the 1990s, as minister of public security, overseeing the powerful national police force, parliament said on Friday.

Wang, 64, previously vice minister of public security, replaces Zhao Kezhi, 68, also a state councillor. During the early 1990s, when Xi was the top Communist Party official in the southeastern city of Fuzhou, Wang was promoted to the deputy police chief.

China is in the midst of high-level personnel changes in the run-up to the once-every-five-year party congress, where Xi, 69, is expected to secure a precedent-breaking third leadership term.