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The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress approved the nominations at the conclusion of its four-day bimonthly session.
"The appointment of a non-CPC member as cabinet minister is an important move in implementing and improving the system of the multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party," said an official with the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee.
"It is a strategic step in advancing the socialist political construction," said the official, who declined to be named.
In the 1950s, a number of non-Communist members were appointed ministers in the country's Cabinet, but they were dismissed during the "anti-rightist" movement.
In recent years, the CPC Central Committee has issued a series of directives to promote non-CPC members to political positions.
In the other appointments, Yang Jiechi, 57, was named China's new foreign minister, replacing Li Zhaoxing, 66, who had served as the country's top diplomat since 2003. China's ministers usually retire at 65.
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