China unveils new cabinet amid function reform

BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua)-- China's new cabinet, which was unveiled on Saturday, is expected to accelerate its functional transformation and present a new style under new Premier Li Keqiang.

Citizens expect the new cabinet members to create a favorable environment for development, provide high-quality public services and maintain social fairness and justice. All of these will set a decisive foundation for building a well-off society in an all-round way and realizing the "Chinese dream" -- the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Members of the State Council, or China's cabinet, include ministers, heads of commissions, the central bank governor and auditor-general.

With the launch of a restructuring plan, the current cabinet lineup has 25 members, two fewer than the previous one. According to legal procedures, they were nominated by the new premier, endorsed by lawmakers at the first session of the 12th National People's Congress and appointed by newly-elected President Xi Jinping.

The average age of the new cabinet members is 60, nearly three years older than the last lineup. On the whole, however, they have richer work experience in central and local departments and remarkable advantages in terms of their knowledge, education and professionalism.

All cabinet members have a college education background, an 11-percent increase over the last cabinet. In the new cabinet, one member has a junior college certificate and three are university graduates. Twenty-one members have post-graduate diplomas, accounting for nearly 85 percent, or 14 percent higher than the previous cabinet. Furthermore, their college majors are more diverse, with a remarkable increase in humanities.

The cabinet has eight new faces, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Defense Minister Chang Wanquan, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, Minister of Supervision Huang Shuxian, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, Minister of Land and Resources Jiang Daming and Minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission Li Bin.

Wang Yi, who was previously director of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, has also worked in the foreign ministry before, holding the posts of vice foreign minister and the Communist Party of China (CPC) chief of the ministry.