Zhao steps down, Red Cross Society of China says

Zhao Baige is no longer executive vice-president or secretary of the Party Committee of the Red Cross Society of China, according to an online notice issued on the society's website Tuesday.

Xu Ke, vice-minister of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, was nominated to succeed Zhao in the post.

In the past three years, the society has made great achievements, thanks to the hard work and leadership of Zhao, said the notice.

Before taking the post at the Red Cross, Zhao was vice-minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission. The commission and the Ministry of Health combined last year to form the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

In November of last year, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, or IFRC, elected Zhao as its vice-president.

Zhao, who was born in 1952, got her PhD in biology from the University of Cambridge in the UK.