China’s Next President
China’s papers seem to be highly focused on the likely next Beijing leader, even if most of the world is watching the race for the White House. His name may not be as well known as Hillary Clinton (or even Fred Thompson) but Xi Jinping is the only sure-fire next president in the bunch.
Today the People’s Daily printed an article about an important event in the career of this “newly-elected member of the top leadership” of the Communist Party. What was the great achievement that warranted an article?
Xi, a member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee and member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, spoke at a workshop on studying and practicing the essence of the 17th CPC National Congress.
He said it was of vital importance to study and practice what the CPC central leadership upheld at the congress for Party building, and to achieve the goals and strategic tasks confirmed at the event.
He stressed that the Party Constitution was essential for regulating and guiding the CPC’s work, adding that studying the Constitution was fundamental for grasping the essence of the Party congress.
In his speech, Xi hailed the achievements of the Research Institute for Party Building over the past 20 years.
Wow! Who knew? Why didn’t the Times cover this achievement?
Obviously this is part of an effort to get the domestic and international public familiar with Mr. Xi. Pretty much he can do anything and get coverage. He doesn’t even have to hold news conferences on Sunday mornings to get a captive audience.
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Chennchina responds:
Posted: January 17th, 2008 at 5:28 am →
I’d say there is a captive audience of 1.3 billion. Must be nice to not have to pay for positive spin…
zach kang responds:
Posted: January 17th, 2008 at 7:58 pm →
HA this is funny…I as chinese don’t even know who will be our next chairman. I believe the candidate is still unclear, Xi is Hu’s men so maybe Jiang is not happy with his sellection.
g Lo responds:
Posted: January 18th, 2008 at 2:21 pm →
Xi is actually not Hu’s man. Xi is regarded to have closer ties with Jiang’s faction, gievn that he was Party Sec in SH and has a liberal persepctive towards economic reform. In any case, he is generally identified as a princeling; his father was Party elder Xi Zhongxun. Hu’s Tuanpai faction was pushing Li Keqiang as their preferred choice for Hu’s successor.
I still dont think it’s totally clear as to who will be chosen. Right now it seems that both candidates have a shot and consequently one can expext more factional infighting and policy balancing.