[Bloomberg] Xi Jinping visited Guangdong province in his first trip since taking over as head of China's Communist Party, drawing parallels to a 1992 tour by paramount leader Deng Xiaoping that spurred economic opening.The visit included stopping Dec. 8 at a statue of Deng built in the city of Shenzhen to commemorate the late leader's visit two decades earlier, according to footage broadcast by Phoenix Television. Xi was shown telling members of his entourage, which Phoenix said included retired officials who had accompanied Deng on his trip, that China's reforms were correct and must continue.
Xi, 59, who succeeded Hu Jintao as the Communist Party's general secretary last month, confronts economic growth this year forecast to be the lowest since 1999. The trip may signal that his tenure will follow that of Deng, whose 1992 visit to Guangdong was credited with helping rekindle China's push to overhaul its economy after growth plummeted following the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.