A tobacco industry veteran joins China’s tobacco leadership: STMA headquarters in Beijing. Photo credit: N509FZ, CC4.0.
China has appointed another tobacco industry veteran to the top ranks of its monopoly regulator.
The State Council appointed Zhang Xiaotang as deputy director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) as part of a broader set of government personnel changes announced on September 20.
STMA has also named Zhang a member of its Party leadership group and a deputy director. Zhang assumes the national leadership position after serving as Party secretary and general manager of Hebei China Tobacco Industry Co.
Before joining Hebei China Tobacco, Zhang held senior positions in STMA’s financial management and supervision department. He was appointed deputy director of the department in December 2018 and later served as its director. Chinese records from 2020 identify Zhang as the head of the STMA department.
His appointment brings an executive with experience on both the regulatory and operational sides of China’s state tobacco system into STMA’s senior leadership.
At Hebei China Tobacco, Zhang emphasized brand development, digitalization, and operational efficiency. During a 2024 national tobacco industry meeting, he called for improvements to the industry’s integrated production and operations management platform and for greater use of data in tobacco-sector management.
The appointment follows another significant change at the top of China’s tobacco administration earlier this year.
Yao Laiying was appointed director of STMA in April, succeeding Zhang Jianmin. Yao also serves as a member of the Party leadership group of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and as Party secretary of the STMA.
Before taking the tobacco post, Yao served as deputy commissioner at China’s State Taxation Administration.