Wang Yang Elected New CPPCC Chief

The central government's top advisory body – the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) – has unanimously elected Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Yang as its new chairman.

All 2,144 members of the CPPCC voted in favour of 63-year-old Wang becoming their new leader, with no votes against and no abstentions.

Wang, who is one of four vice-premiers, formerly served as Communist Party chief of both Chongqing and Guangdong.

He is considered to be a reformer and is perhaps best known for handling the Wukan villagers’ protests in 2011. Residents of the Guangdong village said officials had sold their land without sufficiently compensating them. Wang offered concessions and allowed local elections for a new village chief.

Former Hong Kong chief executives, Tung Chee-hwa and CY Leung, along with Macau's former leader Edmund Ho, were re-elected as vice-chairmen of the advisory body.

New CPPCC Standing Committee members from the SAR include the former head of the World Health Organisation, Margaret Chan, and businessman Peter Lam.

Among the Standing Committee members reelected are former chief secretary Henry Tang, as well as tycoons Victor Li and Peter Lee.