China's State Council has appointed seven people — Wang Xudong, Xi Guohua, Miao Wei, Chen Qiufa, Lou Qinjian, Ou Xinjian and Yan Xueshan — as vice ministers of the newly established Ministry of Information Industry which is reportedly to be officially licensed sometime this week. However, the State Council has not disclosed the detailed duties to be undertaken by each of these people.

In mid-March, the State Council appointed Li Yizhong, director of former State Administration for Safe Production Supervision as the minister of the new MII.

According to a representative from MII, the structural organization and personnel arrangement of the new ministry will be done in the second quarter of this year, and the new organization's main duties include implementing industrial planning; making industry policies and standards; supervising the daily operation of the industrial enterprises; pushing the development and self-innovation of major technology equipment manufacturers; managing the communications industry; guiding the construction of informationization; and protecting national information safety.

Regarding telecom supervision, the new ministry may set up a telecom supervision commission or bureau specially for the telecom and Internet industries.

Set up in 1998, the current MII is mainly responsible for China's telecom and enterprise operations.