China's New Leader?

While the media focuses on President Hu Jintao of China during his recent trip to the U.S. the Chinese government is focusing on grooming a successor for him. Word is that a few years ago President Jintao designed a succession plan to prepare for his resignation from office. The man he picked to succeed him is former provincial leader, Xi Jinping, who is currently the vice president. Some are saying that Xi will be coming into power as soon as next year.

The main issues Xi holds dearly are maintaining the Communist Party and economic growth. Xi seems to be quite familiar with the economic system as of late, he is responsible for some of the booming economies in eastern China. Xi is also willing to experiment with forms of the economic structure to see what will suit China best. This just further sets China in the U.S.'s cross hairs seeing as China is now the second biggest economy in the world now and just continues to grow. Two shining examples of Xi's economic savvy are his urging for state bank investment in Geely, the car company that just bought Volvo, and in Alibaba, an e-commerce giant and Yahoo's China partner. It's clear that given Xi's past China is in for a bright and prosperous future.

Spencer Darrow

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/world/asia/24leader.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=global-home