CHINA/FILE: Heir apparent and current Vice President Xi Jinping is set to be the focus as the country holds its annual parliament session next week

Record ID: 1960063

  • Title: CHINA/FILE: Heir apparent and current Vice President Xi Jinping is set to be the focus as the country holds its annual parliament session next week
  • Date: 3rd March 2012
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (FILE - OCTOBER 2009) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (CCTV - NO ACCESS CHINA) AERIAL VIEW OF TIANANMEN GATE TRUCKS CARRYING MISSILES MOVING PAST SOLDIERS SALUTING LEADERS STANDING ON ROSTRUM XI LOOKING ON
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  • Location: Usa, Hong Kong, China
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  • Country: Usa Hong Kong China
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAEHRA9TW44HSY9IKYEJ3FEQBL3
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: When China's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), convenes for its annual session on Monday (March 5), all eyes will be on heir apparent Xi Jinping, who is expected to take the reins of the world's most populous country after a handover later this year.
    A recent high-profile trip to the United States gave President Barack Obama a rare chance to size up the 58-year-old current Chinese Vice President.
    Tall and slightly stooped, Xi grew up in the privileged yet demanding confines of a Communist leader's family.
    He saw the tumult and suffering of China's grassroots firsthand during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), when, like many urban youths, he was sent down to work in the poor countryside.
    In public, Xi appears confident and comes across as straight-forward.
    Commentators say Xi, considered a "princeling" because of his privileged background, will seek to gain popular support.
    "Xi Jinping is a kind of "princeling", that means he's the son of a top party official. So he's quite a cautious, risk-verse person, and that's why he was chosen, basically, because he's acceptable to all the factions in the party, so we do not expect him to have grand wishes such as those of Deng Xiaoping. However, I think he's very much conscious of the fact that for the Communist Party to stay in power, they must satisfy the expectations of the people, so I think in terms of economic policy he might be more generous with social welfare dispensation," said Willy Lam, former China editor of the influential, Hong-Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper.
    When he takes power, Xi will inherit the world's second biggest economy, but breakneck economic growth has been accompanied by worsening economic imbalances including over-investment and low private consumption, an outsized manufacturing sector and a diminutive service sector.
    The World Bank said this week that China's economy is near a "turning point," and that Beijing must embrace further reforms to keep income and productivity rising in years ahead.
    Xi's warm approach in the U.S. gave some hope for an easing of tensions fraught by disputes over trade, Taiwan, human rights and mutual suspicion of military intentions.
    But Lam said Xi's background could result in tensions with the U.S.
    "The common goal within the leadership is that China should achieve the status of a superpower within one to two decades. And we must remember that Xi Jinping's major power base is in the People's Liberation Army, so it's quite possible that the generals might have a bigger say on foreign and security-related policy in the coming decade, and I this means, perhaps, a heightened sense of confrontation with the U.S.," he said.
    China has recorded a run of double-digit increases in the People's Liberation Army budget over the past two decades, and last year said it would increase spending to 601.1 billion yuan (95.00 billion U.S. dollars) 2011, a 12.7 percent rise on the previous year.
    Xi must also face turmoil within the party itself, as speculation mounts about a corruption scandal that has sparked a political firestorm over the future of Bo Xilai, the ambitious Party Secretary of China's populous Chongqing municipality, and a fellow "princeling" of Xi's generation.
    Chongqing authorities said last month that the city's vice mayor Wang Lijun had taken sick leave, sparking feverish rumours that he had been purged and had sought refuge at the U.S. consulate in nearby Chengdu fearing for his own safety.
    Wang has not been seen in public since, and is under investigation, Zhao Qizheng, spokesman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) said on Friday (March 2).
    "Wang Lijun is currently under investigation by relevant authorities. The investigation has also made some progress. He is a National People's Congress representative. He has requested leave, and will not be present at this meeting," he said.
    Analysts say this could blot Bo's prospects of climbing into the party's top leadership alongside Xi when the new line-up is settled late this year.
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