BEIJING — Unless something goes badly wrong for Xi Jinping over the next two years, it looks like the Communist Party official, who has been groomed his entire career for leadership, will be China’s next president.
At the end of a four-day meeting of the party’s central committee on Monday, the 57-year-old Xi was named vice chairman of the central military commission, a position overseeing the People’s Liberation Army. It is considered a stepping stone for assuming leadership.
Hu Jintao was given the same post in 1999, three years before he became secretary-general of the Communist Party. He became president in 2003.
Like many in the younger generation of Chinese leaders, Xi is a “princeling” — the son of a pro-reform official, Xi Zhongzun, who was purged in the early 1960s after a falling out with Mao Tse-tung. At the age of 15, Xi Jinping was sent to the country to farm wheat. After the Cultural Revolution, Xi was permitted to resume his education, studying chemical engineering. He later received a law degree.
