BEIJING -- The State Council, China's Cabinet, on Thursday announced a number of appointments and removals of government officials.

Tong Daochi was appointed assistant minister of the Ministry of Commerce, while Liu Yuzhu assumed the post of assistant minister of the Ministry of Culture. Zhao Xiaoguang and Fan Xiaomao were both named deputy chief of the State Bureau for Letters and Calls.

Xing Xiaojiang was appointed deputy head of the State Post Bureau, while Xu Shiping and Hu Wanglin were both named deputy head of the State Archives Administration.

Jing Huimin was appointed chief of the Institute of Contemporary China Studies, replacing Li Jie, who was also removed from the position of vice president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Wang Shuguo was moved from the post as president of Harbin Institute of Technology and named president of Xi'an Jiaotong University, replacing Zheng Nanning.

Ke Bingsheng and Zhu Chongshi remained in their posts as president of China Agricultural University and Xiamen University respectively.

Meanwhile, Zhou Jian was removed from the post of vice minister of environmental protection, and Qiu Baoxing was removed from the post of vice minister of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.