HAIKOU, Jan. 4 -- Liu Cigui was appointed deputy and acting governor of China's southern-most island province of Hainan on Sunday .

The Standing Committee of the Hainan Provincial People's Congress, the local legislature, made the appointments at a session held Sunday in Haikou, capital of Hainan.

At the session, it also accepted the resignation of former provincial governor Jiang Dingzhi.

Liu was director of China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) between January 2013 and December 2014. He then was appointed deputy secretary of Hainan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Liu, 59, is a native of Quanzhou in southeastern Fujian Province.