Confusion after reshuffling of party provincial committees

Several Communist Party provincial committees were simultaneously reshuffled Tuesday, but some state media reports on the announcement of Tianjin’s new party secretary have since been pulled, resulting in confusion, South China Morning Post reported. Xinhua reports initially said that outgoing Tianjin party secretary Sun Chunlan, to be replaced by the municipality’s mayor Huang Xingguo, would head the United Front Work Department–a position recently occupied by Ling Jihua, now under corruption investigation. But Xinhua later said that Sun would only step down “pending further appointment”. All online reports of Sun taking the department’s helm were later pulled.