CPC organs reshuffle personnel

Two leading positions at the top of Communist Party of China organs had new leaders on Monday, the start of a series of personnel reshuffling following the 18th CPC National Congress.

Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu was appointed secretary of the Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, according to a decision of the CPC Central Committee announced on Monday.

Zhao Leji will no longer serve as Party chief of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, but will take over as head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee from his predecessor Li Yuanchao, the CPC Central Committee has decided.

The two personnel changes came five days after the conclusion of the 18th Party Congress and four days after a new Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee was elected.

Among the 25 newly elected members of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee, 15 are new faces while the other 10 had been on the previous political bureau. Analysts said more reshuffling of senior Party positions are likely in the near future.

Meng, who is also a State Councilor, took over his new position from Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 17th CPC Central Committee.

However, Meng was not on the newly elected Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 18th CPC Central Committee, as the number of its members was reduced to seven from the previous nine.

Meng, 65, was born in July 1947 in Wuxian county of East China's Jiangsu province. He joined the CPC in June 1971, according to his official biography.

He was named Party chief of Jiangxi province in 2001. He became the minister of public security in 2007 and appointed State Councilor and deputy secretary of the Committee of Political and Legal Affairs under the CPC Central Committee in 2008.

Zhao, the new head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, is 55. He now heads the department responsible for the education of Party members and recruitment of new Party members. It is also responsible for offering advice on staffing positions within the CPC and supervises the selection of officials in the leadership.

Zhao was born in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, in March 1957. He joined the CPC in July 1975 and had a postgraduate education at the Central Party School.

Zhao was appointed governor of Qinghai province in 2000 and became the province Party chief in 2003. He was appointed Party chief of Shaanxi province in 2007.