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China elevated a key confidante of President Xi Jinping to one of the top positions in government on Monday as Beijing cracks down on riskier financing and a debt to reduce systemic risks to the world’s second-largest economy. The election of Liu He by parliament to be a vice premier also comes as the United States presses China to cut its trade surplus by $100 billion. Harvard-educated Liu, 66, was the most prominent envoy to visit Washington recently in a bid to prevent the outbreak of a trade war. While most of the personnel changes…

 China‘s head of the newly-created Ministry of Ecological Environment warned on Monday of continuing challenges in the prolonged battle against pollution and expressed concerns about tight natural gas supplies. “We are making a three-year plan to win the battle for blue skies. The detailed plan is under work, but in principal we want to control pollution in key areas and from heavy industries,” said Li Ganjie, the new minister for the Ecological Environment ministry, during a session at this week’s National People’s Congress (NPC). China announced last week during the NPC that it…