Xi Jinping | featured news

With still no sign of China’s designated new leader, Xi Jinping, who has not been seen in public since Sept. 1, many insiders and well-connected analysts say the Chinese political ship is adrift, with factions jockeying to shape an impending Communist Party conclave.

China’s president-in-waiting, Xi Jinping, canceled a planned meeting in Beijing on Monday with the visiting Danish prime minister —his third no-show for a meeting with a foreign dignitary this month —fueling speculation that the country’s carefully orchestrated leadership transition had run into more unexpected turbulence.

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s week-long trip to the United States, covered in minute detail in the official media here, was the first extended chance for the Chinese public to size up the man tipped to be their next leader. And judging from the initial reviews, Xi is proving a surprise hit with ordinary people.

U.S. business and foreign policy leaders gathered at a Woodley Park hotel on Wednesday morning for an address by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the major speech of his visit to the United States. The lunch was expected to draw a crowd of 600 business executives, politicians, academics and analysts, with corporate sponsors paying $25,000 for a short VIP reception and photo opportunity with China’s presumptive next president.

When Vice President Biden visits China this week, his official host will be his counterpart, Vice President Xi Jinping, who has already been tapped to take over the leadership of this country and its ruling Communist Party, in a carefully managed succession that begins next year.

The Communist Party official is named to a post that is considered a steppingstone for assuming the leadership. He has a reputation for being tough on corruption and friendly toward business, even foreign companies. Unless something goes badly wrong for Xi Jinping over the next two years, it looks like a fait accompli that the 57-year-old Communist Party official, who has been groomed his entire career for leadership, will be China's next president.