China names Xi Jinping as new president
2013-03-14 07:28
Beijing - China's parliament named Xi Jinping as president on
Thursday, four months after he took charge of the Communist Party with pledges
of reform that have raised hopes but so far yielded little change.
Top officials of the world's most populous nation, including
Xi himself, took part in a leadership vote at the Great Hall of the People in
Beijing, taking turns to place red papers into ballot boxes, but the outcome
was never in doubt.
"Now I announce comrade Xi Jinping is selected as
president of the People's Republic of China," said Liu Yunshan, a top
official of the ruling party who chaired the session at the National People's
Congress, the rubber-stamp parliament.
Applause
To loud applause, Xi, 59, stood up and bowed to the
delegates and the platform, before shaking hands with other officials and
walking off the stage.
Li Yuanchao, a member of the Communist Party's Politburo but
not of its top seven-member Standing Committee, and who is seen as having
reformist leanings, was named as vice-president, a largely symbolic post.
Xi's government appointment was effectively guaranteed by
his party position.
He formally takes the reins of the world's second-largest
economy with Li Keqiang, who is due to be anointed as premier on Friday,
marking the final step in the nation's once-in-a-decade power handover.
The party leadership is the real source of authority in
China, but the title of head of state will increase Xi's public and
international role.
Since he took the top Communist post in November, Xi has
pledged to preserve the ruling party's supremacy, as well as improve livelihoods,
implement economic reforms, and crack down on corruption, which incenses
popular opinion.
In the months since Xi's promotion a parade of lower-level
officials have been exposed for graft in efforts that have been lauded in state
media as proof of a crackdown.
However, despite the promises on hot issues such as graft
and environmental protection which could prove a threat to party rule,
observers say that concrete reforms would be complex and will not be swiftly
introduced.
Officially, Xi is being elected for a five-year term, but
barring extraordinary events the 59-year-old will hold the position for a
decade.
Military position
Xi has already become head of China's top military body, the
Central Military Commission, unlike his predecessor Hu Jintao, who at the same
stage in the previous transition in 2003 was still substantially overshadowed
by Jiang Zemin.
"In recent memory there is no comparable figure who has
such power in his hand (so quickly)," said Willy Lam, a politics expert at
the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Xi is the son of one of China's most esteemed generals and
known as a "princeling", the name given to relations of China's first
generation of Communist leaders, who grew up immersed in the ruling party's
upper echelons.
But he has threatened to target not only lowly
"flies" but also top-ranking "tigers" in corruption
crackdowns, warning that graft could "kill the party".
An investigation by US news agency Bloomberg found that Xi's
family had amassed hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, casting doubt on
his ability to implement major reforms which might threaten their business
interests. There was no accusation of wrongdoing on his part.
