China party scholar hints at Xi Jinping promotion

[Coventina]

Source: Washington Post

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese Communist official on Tuesday held out the possibility that Vice President Xi Jinping could still be promoted to a military position, in a step toward ultimately taking over the nation's top leadership post.

Some media had speculated that Xi, who is expected to succeed President Hu Jintao in 2013, would be anointed vice chairman of the Central Military Commission at a party plenum last week, reinforcing his succession claim. However, the plenum closed last Friday with no word of any personnel changes.

If Xi rises through the ranks according to schedule, it could reduce worries about instability among the secretive inner circles of the Communist Party, which has no transparent mechanism for choosing its leaders.

"At the plenum, there was no reflection of personnel changes related to the party's leadership of the military, because this was not included in the agenda for discussion," Wang Changjiang, director general of the Central Party School's department of education and research on party building, told reporters.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/22/AR2009092200577.html