China names veteran economic planner Yang Yinkai to Communist Party’s top financial policy body

A veteran state economic planner has been named to a key position in China’s ruling Communist Party’s top policy coordination body for finance and economic affairs in another career move that appears to mirror the trajectory of his boss Vice-Premier He Lifeng.

Yang Yinkai, who previously helped lead the country’s top economic planner, was referred to by a new title – deputy head of the general office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission – on a government website on Thursday.

The information appeared on the website of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, where Yang led a delegation on Tuesday to discuss reforms to China’s collectively owned forests and convey President Xi Jinping’s directives on forestry and grassland work.

The post confirms Yang is now co-lead of the powerful general office that leads China’s financial and economic affairs – a role that comes with a bigger economic portfolio than his previous role at the National Development and Reform Commission.

Yang’s appointment comes eight months after he was promoted to deputy head of the NDRC, a ministry-level body that plots the country’s economic direction, including making its yearly and five-year plans and overseeing China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s signature project.

Yang, 53, was trained in geology and started working at the NDRC in the early 2000s, holding various leadership positions related to economic planning, revitalising China’s northeast rust-belt and poverty reduction.

Yang ascended quickly through the ranks after He Lifeng, now vice-premier, was promoted to NDRC chairman in 2017. Yang was promoted to head the agency’s general office that year, giving him a chance to work closely with NDRC leaders and manage agencywide affairs.

A year later, Yang was tasked with leading the NDRC’s personnel department, a role that involved managing and selecting cadres under He.

In April 2022, Yang was again promoted to NDRC vice-secretary while maintaining his responsibilities in personnel management. Yang was promoted again in December to deputy director of the NDRC.

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The Post reported in June that He has taken over as director of the general office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, an appointment that has yet to be made public.

He, who is thought to have known Xi since the 1980s when the latter was in Fujian province, first moved to the NDRC in 2014. He was appointed as vice-premier during the “two sessions” in March, when Beijing completed a twice-a-decade reshuffle.

Yang was also responsible for coordinating a research centre devoted to Xi’s economic ideas established by the party in 2022.

South China Morning Post