A Central Committee meeting on Monday approved top appointments in China's ruling Communist Party, promoting Li Keqiang, Hu's purported protege, into the leadership (as a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee Politburo), and endorsing the party's policy guidelines.

Li Keqiang is a former first secretary of the Communist Youth League Central Committee (1993-98), and until recently Communist Party chief in China's northeastern province of Liaoning.

The new Central Committee comprises 371 members, 50.7% of them being members of the previous Central Committee.

The new Politburo now has 25 members with a total of 10 new faces. Six of the newcomers are relatively young, born in the 1950s. - RIA Novosti