Beijing, Sep 15: China's presumed next leader made an appearance Saturday for the first time since dropping from public view earlier this month, a two-week absence that fueled rumors about his health and raised questions about the stability of the country's succession process.
Vice President Xi Jinping appeared at China Agricultural University in Beijing for activities marking National Science Popularization Day, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
Photos posted to the government's official website showed Xi being shown plant exhibits. Dressed casually in an open-necked shirt and black windbreaker, he appeared smiling with no sign of disability or ill health.
The three-line Xinhua report did not address why Xi had not been seen publicly since Sept. 1. Since then, he has canceled meetings with visiting foreign dignitaries including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. The Chinese government has yet to explain Xi's public absence.
The U.S.-based website Boxun.com, a clearinghouse for leaked information about China's leadership, said Xi had canceled all public appearances in order to prepare for the ruling Communist Party's upcoming leadership congress, at which he is to take over as party leader. That's the first step in a generational leadership transition that will see him assume the presidency next spring, embarking on what is expected to be a decade at the helm of the world's most populous nation and second-largest economy.
In addition to deciding personnel matters, Xi is heavily involved in drafting a major report to be delivered at the congress, as well as possible amendments to the party's constitution. While Xi hasn't indicated what if any changes he plans to make, expectations are high for gradual economic and political reforms to meet China's changing circumstances, three decades after the abandonment of orthodox Marxism.
Citing unidentified sources close to the leadership, Boxun also said Xi had been leading China's response to a recent spike in tensions with neighbor Japan over disputed uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Amid growing anti-Japanese demonstrations around the country, Beijing has taken an unusually hard-line stance over the long-running dispute, sending maritime surveillance vessels into Japanese waters near the islands on Friday in a show of resolve.
Early rumors about his public absence said that the 59-year-old Xi had thrown his back out swimming or pulled a muscle playing football. As the days passed and Xi was still not seen, speculation escalated to more serious conditions, including a heart attack, stroke and emergency surgery.
While the Communist Party has become more sensitive to public opinion over nationalism and social unrest, it reverts to its roots as a clandestine organization when it comes to the leaders' private lives, particularly their health.
The uncertainty surrounding Xi has been heightened by the party's silence on the dates for the party congress, widely expected to be held in late October.
The leader-in-waiting's sudden disappearance on the eve of his ascension also came during a year full of unforeseen and unsettling political developments that had already threatened hopes for a smooth party leadership.
Most notably, the case of Bo Xilai, one of China's most charismatic and ambitious politicians who fell from power in March, remains unsettled. Bo's downfall sparked a dramatic scandal that led to his wife's conviction for murdering a British businessman.
Bo's former aide, Wang Lijun, will stand trial Tuesday in southwest China's Chengdu city on defection, bribery and other charges.
Wang served as the police chief in the city of Chongqing under Bo but lost his job for still unexplained reasons. In February, Wang fled to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, where he told U.S. diplomats about his suspicions linking Bo's wife to the murder case.
