China's State Council has appointed a new head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), with the position having been left unfilled since early in January.

The announcement that Zhang Kejian would take on the role was made on May 24. Zhang also becomes the head of the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND), which oversees Chinese space-related activities, for which he was previously deputy.Zhang was also installed as deputy of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), to which SASTIND is subordinate.

The roles of administrator of CNSA and executive of SASTIND had been vacant since the promotion of Tang Dengjie to governor of the province of Fujian in early January 2018. Tang, who lacks aerospace experience, was himself appointed only in June 2017.

Article source: gbTimes, Andrew Jones