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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| ChinaÂ’s presumed next leader reappears in public |
| 2012-09-16 |
| BEIJING: Chinese leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping reappeared in public Saturday and made an impromptu speech following a two-week absence that had sparked rumors about his health and raised questions about the stability of the country’s succession process. State media said Xi toured exhibits at China Agricultural University in Beijing commemorating National Science Popularization Day, but offered no explanation of why he had dropped from sight. Photos posted on the government’s official website showed Xi walking in the sunshine dressed casually in an open-necked shirt and black wind breaker. Another photo showed him smiling as he looked at potted plants, showing no sign of disability or ill health. A lengthy Chinese-language report from the official Xinhua News Agency did not address why Xi had not been seen publicly since Sept. 1, when he made a speech at the ruling Communist Party’s official training academy. Since then, he has canceled meetings with visiting foreign dignitaries including US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. The Chinese government has yet to explain Xi’s public absence. Speculation over Xi’s absence highlights the intense scrutiny China’s succession process is under, tempered with uneasiness about the country’s opaque political system, which often seems at odds with its rising global importance. “The leadership needs to realize how the world perceives this. They may have their own reasons for keeping secret, but it is not beneficial to China’s global status and position as a world power,” said David Zweig, an expert on Chinese politics at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Xinhua said Xi, while visiting the university, spoke about food safety and made an impromptu speech in which he praised the university for sharing science with the public. Xi is due to take over as head of the Communist Party at a leadership congress later this year, the first step in a generational power transition that will see him assume the presidency next spring, embarking on what is expected to be a decade at the helm of the world’s most populous nation and second-largest economy. In addition to deciding personnel matters, Xi is heavily involved in drafting a major report to be delivered at the congress, as well as possible amendments to the party’s constitution. While Xi hasn’t indicated what if any changes he plans to make, expectations are high for gradual economic and political reforms to meet China’s changing circumstances, three decades after its abandonment of orthodox Marxism. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 China's successor-in-chief XI lives, whil Japan's new Ambassador to China doth not. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-09-16 21:21 |