Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s absence for more than a week from public events fueled speculation about the health of the leading candidate to succeed President Hu Jintao in a once-in-a-decade leadership change.
Since speaking at the Party School of the Communist Party on Sept. 1, Xi has canceled events with foreign officials including a Sept. 5 meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Foreign journalists in Beijing were also told the same day that Xi would meet Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning- Schmidt on Sept. 10. The meeting wasn’t included in an official agenda distributed Sept. 7.
Secrecy surrounding China’s leadership, combined with the ouster of Politburo member Bo Xilai, have left investors with limited information on who’ll be overseeing the world’s second- biggest economy. The Communist Party has yet to release the dates for the gathering anticipated in coming weeks where the next generation of policy makers will be appointed.
Xi’s meeting with Clinton was canceled following an injury to his back, the Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 5, citing an unnamed U.S. official. The cancellation was a “normal adjustment,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Sept. 5. Hong said yesterday that a “timely introduction” of Xi’s activities on foreign affairs had been provided after he was asked whether the vice president was injured.
Other Chinese leaders have continued to make public appearances. Hu attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok, Russia, over the weekend and Premier Wen Jiabao is scheduled to speak today at the World Economic Forum’s conference in the Chinese port city of Tianjin.
A week after the ouster of Bo as party chief of the municipality of Chongqing, speculation of a coup spread on the Internet, helping spark the biggest jump in credit-default swaps on Chinese government bonds in four months.
Bo, once seen as a candidate for inclusion in the new leadership group to be appointed this year, was suspended from the Politburo in April for “serious violations of discipline,” according to the official Xinhua News Agency. His wife, Gu Kailai, was convicted last month of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: John Liu in Beijing at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Liu at [email protected]
Since speaking at the Party School of the Communist Party on Sept. 1, Xi has canceled events with foreign officials including a Sept. 5 meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Foreign journalists in Beijing were also told the same day that Xi would meet Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning- Schmidt on Sept. 10. The meeting wasn’t included in an official agenda distributed Sept. 7.
Secrecy surrounding China’s leadership, combined with the ouster of Politburo member Bo Xilai, have left investors with limited information on who’ll be overseeing the world’s second- biggest economy. The Communist Party has yet to release the dates for the gathering anticipated in coming weeks where the next generation of policy makers will be appointed.
Xi’s meeting with Clinton was canceled following an injury to his back, the Wall Street Journal reported Sept. 5, citing an unnamed U.S. official. The cancellation was a “normal adjustment,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Sept. 5. Hong said yesterday that a “timely introduction” of Xi’s activities on foreign affairs had been provided after he was asked whether the vice president was injured.
Other Chinese leaders have continued to make public appearances. Hu attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok, Russia, over the weekend and Premier Wen Jiabao is scheduled to speak today at the World Economic Forum’s conference in the Chinese port city of Tianjin.
A week after the ouster of Bo as party chief of the municipality of Chongqing, speculation of a coup spread on the Internet, helping spark the biggest jump in credit-default swaps on Chinese government bonds in four months.
Bo, once seen as a candidate for inclusion in the new leadership group to be appointed this year, was suspended from the Politburo in April for “serious violations of discipline,” according to the official Xinhua News Agency. His wife, Gu Kailai, was convicted last month of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: John Liu in Beijing at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Liu at [email protected]