A former assistant foreign minister was appointed as the deputy head of China's anti-corruption authority on Tuesday, the first ever diplomat to be assigned to the post.
The State Council named Liu Jianchao the deputy head of the National Bureau of Corruption Prevention, a post that is responsible for the China's ongoing international hunt for corrupt officials.
His appointment was published on the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's website on Tuesday. Liu has since been removed from his previous post of assistant minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Observers said that the appointment, the first time that a diplomat has been selected to lead the anti-graft agency, shows the country's effort to strengthen international cooperation in the anti-graft campaign.
"China needs people who are familiar with diplomacy to better cooperate with other countries in its global hunt for fugitives, and Liu's diplomatic background suits the need," Zhang Xixian, a professor from the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, told the Global Times.
Liu's installment is also conducive to the further broadening of China's anti-graft campaign to include all the overseas branches of State-owned enterprises, Zhang said.
"As an elite diplomat in charge of the country's publicity department, Liu could also better promote China's anti-graft situation and show the world China's achievement in the anti-graft campaign," he said.
China nabbed a total of 680 corrupt fugitives in its global hunt operation, "Fox Hunt," in the second half of 2014. An upgraded campaign, "Sky Net," was launched early this year to involve more government organs in the global hunt.
The 51-year-old Liu, a graduate of the University of Oxford, has served as deputy-general of the information department of foreign ministry and ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of China to the Philippines and Indonesia, according to the foreign ministry's website.
Liu's appointment also creates a new career path for the country's elite diplomats, as most assistant ministers are promoted to minister or ambassador of China to other countries, Chinese media reported.
However, some observers are of the view that the transfer of senior officials, whether they are military, Party or other government officials, is normal and congruous with the country's development needs.
Jiu Jieyi, also a former assistant foreign minister, was appointed as deputy chief of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee in 2009.
