Beijing - China's nominal parliament on Sunday confirmed Premier Wen Jiabao to a second five-year term in office. Some 3,000 members of the National People's Congress approved the extension of Wen's tenure in a single-candidate election of leaders recommended by the ruling Communist Party.
The endorsement of Wen, 65, follows the congress on Saturday approving a second five-year term as state president for party leader Hu Jintao and elevating Hu's heir-apparent, 54-year-old Xi Jinping, to the vice presidency.
The parliament is also scheduled to approve Li Keqiang as the most senior of three vice premiers on Monday.
Xi and Li are expected to replace Hu and Wen, respectively, when they face mandatory retirement from the party leadership at its next congress in 2012.
Wen joined the party in 1965 and initially trained in geology and engineering.
Since becoming premier in 2003 and taking the main responsibility for implementing China's economic policies, he has tried to position himself as a "people's premier" by making televised visits to workers and farmers in remote areas of China.
In his speech to the opening of the congress on March 5, Wen said consumer-price inflation was "the biggest concern of the people" and one of several "prominent issues and deep-rooted problems affecting economic performance."
The congress on Sunday also approved the appointment of new heads of the Supreme People's Court and its procuratorate, to replace officials retiring under age and tenure-linked rules.
It endorsed new members and two vice-chairmen of the state's Central Military Commission after approving Hu's continuation in his post of chairman of the commission on Saturday.
The elevation of Xi and Li in the state leadership is a routine move following their promotion in the party hierarchy at the five- yearly party congress in October.
Both Xi and Li were promoted to the nine-member Standing Committee of the party's Politburo, which makes all major policy decisions in China.
