BEIJING, April 30 (Reuters) – China on Thursday named Zhang Zhu agriculture minister, days after appointing him to lead the Communist Party’s operations at the ministry, in the second top-level shake-up in two years.
Zhang, 58, a veteran regional and agricultural official who most recently served as party chief of Urumqi, the capital of China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, replaces Han Jun, 62, who had served as agriculture minister and party chief since 2024.
Han replaced Tang Renjian, who was investigated by the party’s powerful anti-graft watchdog in May 2024, after four years in the role, and later sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking $38 million in bribes.
The agriculture ministry has not specified why Han has been replaced in his posts, and his resume has been removed from the Chinese version of the ministry’s website.
(Reporting by Joe Cash; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)