New pricing chief vows increased transparency

Xu Kunlin, the newly appointed head of the pricing department at the National Development and Reform Commission, said the government will further streamline the approval process and improve supervision systems to prevent corruption.

Xu, the NDRC's director-general of the bureau of price supervision and anti-monopoly, has been named head of the pricing department concurrently with his incumbent position, the NDRC website said on Friday.

Born in Fujian province, Xu, 49, has led several antitrust cases against companies including domestic ones - Kweichow Moutai Group Co Ltd and Wuliangye Group Co Ltd - as well as foreign giants such as Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, Audi AG and Qualcomm Inc.