http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2098&Itemid=171
Cracks in China's Great Politburo Wall
Written by Willy Lam
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Vice-President Xi Jinping drops strong hint at big rift with President Hu
Jintao
Now we know what Vice-President Xi Jinping must have felt when he failed
to make it to the Chinese Communist Party's Central Military Commission at a
plenary session of the Central Committee last month. The supposed front-runner
to succeed Party Chief and President Hu Jintao apparently blamed the supremo
for not inducting him into the policy-setting military commission, which has
been headed by Hu since 2004.
During his current trip to five European countries, Xi, 56, has departed
from protocol and hardly given Hu a mention. According to long-standing
diplomatic custom, a senior Chinese cadre on tour would first convey to his
hosts the greetings of President Hu. Xi's failure to acknowledge and salute
Hu's leadership was most obvious when he met with German Chancellor Angela
Merkel in Berlin on Monday.
Before the official discussion began, Xi handed to Merkel the English
editions of two books - on energy and on information technology - written by
ex-president Jiang Zemin. According to the official Xinhua News Agency, Xi then
"passed along Comrade Jiang Zemin's greetings and good wishes" to the German
leader. Merkel reciprocated by asking Xi to send her greetings to Jiang. There
was no reference to Hu throughout the two leaders' tete-a-tete.
This was the first time in less than two weeks that ex-president Jiang,
83, appears to have upstaged the 67-year-old Hu. During celebrations to mark
the 60th birthday of the People's Republic of China on October 1, the official
Chinese media gave Jiang pretty much the same prominence as Hu. For example, he
appeared 20 times on CCTV's coverage of the all-important military parade. And
Hu was caught a couple of times on TV assuming a humble posture next to the
talkative and high-spirited Jiang. The next day, the People's Daily put two
same-sized pictures of Hu and Jiang side by side on its front page.
As the highest-ranked Fifth-Generation politician in the supreme
Politburo Standing Committee, Xi is slated to succeed Hu as party general
secretary at the 18th CCP Congress in October 2012 - and as state president a
few months later. Yet it is well-known among political circles in Beijing that
Xi does not come from Hu's Communist Youth League faction. Instead, the son of
former vice-premier Xi Zhongxun is the putative head of the powerful Gang of
Princelings, a reference to the offspring of party elders. Moreover, it was
partly due to support rendered by ex-president Jiang, himself a princeling,
that Xi was virtually designated Hu's heir-apparent at the 17th Party Congress
in 2007. Xi's failure to be inducted into the CMC last month, however, was a
signal that he might not enjoy a cosy relationship with his boss.
Instead, Hu is believed to be pulling out all the stops to improve the
political fortunes of Youth League stalwarts such as Politburo Standing
Committee member and First Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, who at this stage is
expected to take over the premiership from Wen Jiabao in early 2013.
Xi watchers are not surprised by his strange demeanor in Berlin. During
his tour to Latin America early this year, the vice-president aroused
controversy by using earthy language to attack a certain country - widely
thought to be the US - for alleged interference in China's domestic affairs.
While talking to diplomats and Chinese representatives in China's embassy in
Mexico City, Xi intoned: "There are people who seem to have nothing to do after
filling their stomachs. They like to point their fingers at China's internal
affairs." The vice-president's remarks were not reported by the Chinese media.
In any event, Xi's apparent decision to openly side with Jiang - and his
failure to appear deferential to Hu - is a good indication that factional
rivalry and jockeying for position has begun some three years before the 18th
Party Congress. At that all-important conclave, a new corps of party and state
leadership will be picked as at least half of the current PSC and Politburo
members are set to retire.
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