War hero promoted to PLA's chief of staff

China has appointed a war hero as chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army, according to the Defense Ministry.

General Li Zuocheng, 63, a native of Hunan province, met top-ranking military officers of Pakistan and Afghanistan over the weekend in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, in his new capacity as chief of the PLA Joint Staff Department, a news release from the ministry said.

This means Li, who was commander of the PLA Ground Force, is slated to become a member of the Central Military Commission, the top military ruling body in China, with President Xi Jinping as its chairman, because all of Li's predecessors were included in the commission after they became the PLA's chief of staff.