Reuters: “A reformist member of China’s decision-making Politburo, Li Yuanchao, is set to become the country’s vice president this week instead of a more senior and conservative official best known for keeping the media in check, sources said.
Li’s appointment would be a sign that new Communist Party leader and incoming president Xi Jinping‘s clout is growing, a source with ties to the leadership said. Xi fended off a bid by influential former president Jiang Zemin to install propaganda tsar Liu Yunshan in the job, the source said.
Jiang was a major power behind the scenes in the administration of outgoing President Hu Jintao.
The post of vice president is largely symbolic. However the job would raise Li’s profile, give him a role in foreign affairs and further bolster Xi, who took the top jobs in the party and military at the Communist Party congress in November.
The promotion of Li may also signal a willingness on the part of Xi to pursue limited reforms that Li is known to have advocated in his previous posts, such as making the selection of Communist officials more inclusive.”
via China’s Xi flexes muscle, chooses reformist VP: sources | Reuters.
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