Chinese President Xi Jinping has reshuffled three top provincial-level Chinese Communist Party posts as he seeks to place his men in key positions ahead of a congress next year. More new appointments are likely to follow.
The party congress, held every five years and due next autumn, will see Xi further cement his hold on power by appointing close allies into the party's ruling inner core, the 25-member Politburo and the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee.
Xi, who doubles as chief of the party and military, is ranked No. 1 in the Standing Committee — the apex of power in China.