Who Are The Next Leaders Of China?

Vice-premier Li Keqiang (second from left) and vice-president Xi Jinping (second from right) on their accession to the Politburo Standing Committee in 2007, a key step in their rise to the top. Other members include current premier Wen Jiabao and current president Hu Jintao (fourth and fifth from left respectively)

Who Will Be China’s Next Leaders? -- Geoff Dyer, Financial Times

The streets at the centre of Beijing are eerily quiet over the week-long Chinese New Year holiday, which fell in early February this year, but outside one old house a few blocks from the Forbidden City, a steady stream of cars pulled up.

The holiday is a time to pay respects to family elders and mentors. I know people in their forties and fifties who still visit their -favourite school teacher over the break and among the upper -echelons of the Chinese Communist party, respected older comrades are given their due. The flurry of activity was outside the family home of Hu Yaobang, the former leader of the Chinese -Communist party who died in 1989. Among the dutiful visitors were Xi Jinping, the man slated to be the next president of China, and Li Keqiang, the likely next premier.

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My Comment: As a China watcher since the 1980s, I have been asked this question on a regular basis. For this new batch of leaders, my analysis can be summed up as the following .... different faces but the policy remains the same. And what is the most important part of this policy .... insure that the Communist Party never loses the power that it has in ruling China.