Li Yuanchao, who was tapped as China's new vice-president Thursday, is a veteran Communist official with impeccable party credentials who is also seen as a voice for reform. Li, 62, has long advocated for better standards of governance in the one-party state -- a key demand of disgruntled citizens angry over corruption and mismanagement. He is a member of the party's 25-strong Politburo, and formerly head of its powerful Organisation Department, which is in charge of bureaucrats' careers.

China's parliament named Xi Jinping as president Thursday, four months after he took charge of the Communist Party with pledges of reform that have raised hopes but so far yielded little change. Top officials of the world's most populous nation, including Xi himself, took part in a leadership vote at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, taking turns to place red papers into ballot boxes, but the outcome was never in doubt.

China's parliament is to name Xi Jinping as the country's new president Thursday, formalising his leadership of the world's most populous nation four months after he took charge of the ruling Communist Party. He will take the reins of the world's second-largest economy alongside incoming premier Li Keqiang, who is due to be anointed on Friday. Xi's party leadership is his real source of power but the title of head of state will increase his public role, such as on overseas trips, and marks his final step in China's once-in-a-decade power handover.

A senior Chinese politician whose brother defected to the US in a major spy scandal was on Monday elected as chairman of the country's highest-profile advisory organisation, state media reported. Yu Zhengsheng, who ranks as number four in the Communist Party's ruling seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, was made head of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the official Xinhua news agency said. He is regarded as one of the party's "princelings" but has had to overcome major setbacks during his career.