Li Keming, the brother of Premier Li Keqiang, has stepped down as deputy head of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA), The Straits Times in Singapore said.

Removing Li could mollify anti-smoking activists who have charged the government is too close to STMA, thereby slowing down the pace of curbs on tobacco use in the world’s biggest tobacco user, the newspaper said on its website. Li had held the STMA post since 2003.