China Leadership: Congress Begins To Replace Hu Jintao with Xi Jinping

The Leadership Change That Matters Most To The World?
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The man many consider to be the most important leader in the world will take the reins of power this week - but he won't be sitting in the White House.

It's attracted a little less attention, but as the US Election dominates, the Communist Party of China will begin its once-a-decade leadership transition. Hu Jintao will step down as president and Wen Jiabao will step down as premier.

Unlike the US election, their successors are assured. They will be replaced by Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang.

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An elderly woman uses a plastic sheet to cover herself from the rain as she walks past the Great Hall of the People where the Chinese Communist Party's 18th National Congress is scheduled to begin

Their appointments will be unveiled at the end of the Chinese Communist Party's 18th Party Congress in Beijing, which begins on Thursday and end on the 15 November.

Xi is a political heavyweight, the son of Mao's vice-premier, despite being married to a Chinese popstar and a fan of US basketball, according to AFP.

During Mao's Cultural Revolution, like many young Chinese he worked with peasants in the countryside, labouring in the impoverished province of Shaanxi. After joining the party, he attended Tsinghua University and began his political career through the ranks.

He is famed for taking a zero-tolerance attitude to corruption, being drafted in to troubleshoot local corruption difficulties, and has taken aim at the West for criticising China, saying in one speech: "Some foreigners with full bellies and nothing better to do engage in finger-pointing at us.

"First, China does not export revolution; second, it does not export famine and poverty; and third, it does not mess around with you. So what else is there to say?"

No major upheaval is expected with this change in leadership.

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Xi Jinping: China's next leader

Dr Enze Han, Lecturer in International Security in East Asia at SOAS, told The Huffington Post UK: "There will be a lot of continuity.

"My understanding is that it will be a very smooth transition, with no major disjunction between the policies of the new leadership and the old way.

"The main change, I believe, will come from the perspectives of others. How will other countries, like Japan and the US, respond to the rise of China? I don't think the US is really ready for it."

Delegates for the Congress have arrived in Beijing on Tuesday - and state news agency Xinhua reported young people in China are "hooked" on the results of both the US election, and the Communist Party Congress.

Cai Qing, a post-graduate at the Cross-Culture Research Center of Shanghai Jiaotong University who has returned from a communication project in Seattle, told Xinhua that young Chinese people are more curious about the US than American young people are about China.

"Many US experts study China, mainly focusing on the rise of the country. They are interested in the secrets of China's economic growth.

"Some American teachers and students told me that they are also worried that such a big country with a large population may do some unexpected things," she said.

In 34 of the 35 countries polled, the current US president won well over half of the votes. In China, Romney won by 52% to 48%.

The results are surprising, given Romney pledging, on his first day in office, to designate China a currency manipulator, a step no administration has taken against any country for 18 years.