A quiet changing of the guard has taken place at China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, with a long-serving bureaucrat moved into the company’s most powerful position amid corruption scandals that have shaken the industry.
China Mobile announced on Thursday that Xi Guohua, 60, vice-minister of industry and information technology, would take over from Wang Jianzhou, 63, as Communist party chief of the company. Mr Wang, an industry veteran, will remain chairman, but his power will be limited by his loss of the party role.
China Mobile Communications, the state-owned parent of Hong Kong-listed China Mobile, gave no reason for the shift and announced it in a terse statement on its website.