China confirms Hunan political appointment

Beijing, Oct 1: China has confirmed the appointment of a new acting governor for central China's Hunan province who will help consolidate the power base of the country's Communist Party chief Hu Jintao.

The official Xinhua news agency said late yesterday that first secretary of the Communist Youth League Zhou Qiang had been appointed acting governor of Hunan, the birthplace of the late Chairman Mao Zedong.

Reuters reported Zhou Qiang's appointment on September 26.

China had accepted the resignation of Zhou Bohua as governor of the province, Xinhua said.

Zhou Qiang, 46, is a political ally of Hu. Hu will preside over a meeting of the ruling Communist Party's sixth plenary from October 8 to 11.

A focus of the plenum will be whether Hu, who is also state president, has the political clout to name an ally to replace Chen Liangyu, who was sacked as Shanghai party boss earlier this month.

Reuters