Date:16/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/16/stories/2008031659521600.htm

International

Hu Jintao re-elected Chinese President

Pallavi Aiyar

Rising political star Xi Jinping appointed Vice-President; to oversee Olympic Games

— PHOTO: Xinhua

AT THE HELM AGAIN: Hu Jintao (standing), General-Secretary of the Communist Party of China, being re-elected President of the country during the fifth Plenary Session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on Saturday.

Beijing: China’s Parliament on Saturday endorsed Hu Jinato for a second five-year term as President. The post of Vice-President was also announced, going to Xi Jinping, thus further cementing the rising political star’s future as heir apparent to Mr. Hu.

Mr. Xi (54), is a member of what is domestically called the “princeling” faction, since he is the son of a high-ranking Communist Party official and former Chinese Vice-Premier.

During the course of his career, most of which was spent along the country’s booming eastern seaboard in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, Mr. Xi built up a reputation as somewhat of a corruption-buster. Before being elevated to the exclusive nine-member Standing Committee of the Communist Party’s Political Bureau last October, Mr. Xi had served as Shanghai’s Party secretary for a year after the previous party chief Chen Liangyu was sacked for corruption.

The new Vice-President, who is now almost certain to take over from Mr. Hu as party chief in 2012, has a doctorate in law. Under his leadership, the economies of Shanghai, Zhejiang and Fujian have flourished, attracting large amounts of foreign direct investment in addition to building up domestic private enterprise.

Mr. Xi will continue to be in the spotlight this year, having been put in charge of overseeing the preparations for the Olympic Games which Beijing will host in August. The new leader is also responsible for key Communist Party organs. In addition to running the party’s secretariat, he is the principal of the Central Party School, the ideological training and research institute for top party officials.

Mr. Hu and Mr. Xi’s appointments were made by the almost 3,000 members of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC). Among the other posts announced on Saturday was the selection of Wu Bangguo, to a second and final term as Chairman of the NPC.