New leader for Tianjin viewed as boost in graft fight

The former top official of Hubei province, Li Hongzhong, has been appointed to lead the northern port city of Tianjina move that experts said could push forward the anti-graft effort after the municipality's former top official was put under probe.

The Communist Party of China Central Committee announced the appointment in a statement on Tuesday, three days after Huang Xingguo, the former acting Party chief and mayor of Tianjin, was investigated for suspected "serious disciplinary violations", usually a reference to corruption.

The statement said Li, now 60, would no longer hold the post of secretary of the CPC Hubei Provincial Committee.

Meanwhile, Huang was no longer acting Party chief of Tianjin, and he was also removed from his position as deputy Party chief and mayor of the city, the statement said.

The post of Party chief of Tianjin was vacant for 20 months until the appointment. Since December 2014, Huang was acting Party chief.

Li, a native of Changle, Shandong province, became a civil servant in Shenyang, Liaoning province, after his graduation as a history major from Jilin University, and he later became a secretary at the former Ministry of Electronics Industry.

He was appointed deputy mayor of Huizhou, Guangdong province, in 1988 and eventually became Party chief of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in 2005. He became governor of Hubei province in 2008 and Party chief of the province in 2010.

The municipality's previous Party chiefs, including current Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli and Sun Chunlan, head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, have all been members of the CPC Political Bureau, China's core leadership.

Li Tuo, a professor of political studies at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said Li brings the expectation that anti-graft efforts in Tianjin will move forward after several senior officials there have been investigated for corruption.

"Li has previously built a reputation for his anti-graft efforts. It is an indicator that the top leadership has placed enough trust and responsibility on him to push forward clean governance," he said.

Last month, Yin Hailin, deputy mayor of Tianjin, was placed under investigation for alleged severe disciplinary violations. Wu Changshun, the municipality's former senior political adviser and former police chief, was put under graft investigation in July 2014.

"It requires strong leadership to clean up the problems left behind by those officials who are now under investigation," said Fu Siming, a professor of administrative law at the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.