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hu jintao
China is investigating former President Hu Jintao’s most senior aide, Ling Jihua, state media report.
Ling Jihua is accused of “disciplinary violations”, Xinhua news agency said, which usually refers to corruption.
He was demoted in 2012 after reports that his son had died crashing his Ferrari sports car in Beijing.
Correspondents say the investigation shows current President Xi Jinping feels secure enough to detain even the trusted advisers of his predecessor.
Xi Jinping took over from Hu Jintao as the Communist Party leader and China’s president in late 2012.
Since the transition, Xi Jinping has introduced a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption, warning it could threaten the party’s very survival.
Earlier this month it was announced that former Chinese security chief Zhou Yongkang was facing corruption charges – a move that sent shockwaves through the political elite.
A week later, former top economic official Liu Tienan was jailed for life for accepting millions of dollars in bribes.
Critics say President Xi Jinping’s campaign is as much about eliminating political rivals as it is about tackling corruption.
Until the scandal involving his son, Ling Jihua had been tipped for promotion to the party’s Politburo.
Instead, he was moved from head of the Central Committee’s General Office – in effect chief of staff to China’s leader – and appointed to the less influential post of head of the United Front Work Department.
The identity of those inside the Ferrari was never revealed and censors blocked online comments mentioning the crash.
However, reports said Ling Jihua’s son was behind the wheel and the two passengers were described as scantily-clad women.
Ling Jihua was accused of trying to cover up the scandal.
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Li Keqiang has been named as China’s new prime minister, placing him at the helm of the world’s second-largest economy.
Li Keqiang, who already holds the number two spot in the Communist Party, takes over from Wen Jiabao.
He was elected for a five-year term but, like his predecessor, would be expected to spend a decade in office.
On Thursday, Xi Jinping was confirmed by legislators as the new president, completing the transition of power from Hu Jintao.
Li Keqiang’s widely-signalled elevation was confirmed by 3,000 legislators at the National People’s Congress, the annual parliament session, in Beijing. He received 2,940 votes to three, with six abstentions.
As premier, Li Keqiang will oversee a large portfolio of domestic affairs, managing economic challenges, environmental woes and China’s urbanization drive.
The appointments seal the shift from one generation of leaders to the next. A raft of vice-premiers and state councillors will be named on Saturday, before the NPC closes on Sunday.
Li Keqiang has been named as China’s new prime minister, placing him at the helm of the world’s second-largest economy
Li Keqiang, 57, who is seen as close to outgoing leader Hu Jintao, speaks fluent English and has a PhD in economics.He has called for a more streamlined government, eliminating some ministries while boosting the size of others.
The son of a local official in Anhui province, Li Keqiang became China’s youngest provincial governor when he was tasked to run Henan.
But his time there was marked by a scandal involving the spread of HIV through contaminated blood.
Li Keqiang is expected to end the NPC with a press conference on Sunday, given by Wen Jiabao in the past.
On Thursday, Xi Jinping’s move was approved by 2,952 votes to one, with three abstentions.
Hours later, President Barack Obama called both to congratulate him and raise concerns over ongoing issues, including cyber hacking and North Korea.
“Both leaders agreed on the value of regular high-level engagement to expand co-operation and co-ordination,” a White House statement said.
Barack Obama is sending both Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Secretary of State John Kerry to Beijing in coming days, in an apparent bid to reach out to the new administration.
In an editorial, state-run Global Times said Xi Jinping and his colleagues needed to show powerful leadership to unite society.
“China cannot stop developing or fighting corruption. Social unity is the key to how China can stand against complex international affairs,” it said.
Meanwhile, prominent dissident Hu Jia said he was detained and beaten by police on Thursday after he criticized the election of Xi Jinping as fake.
The well-known AIDS activist said police also refused him treatment for injuries to his head and ribs.
He said authorities were also angry because he had arranged meetings with Liu Xia, wife of jailed Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, who is under house arrest.
Li Keqiang:
- Seen as one of the more reform-minded members of the new leadership
- Started out as a manual laborer on a rural commune
- Studied law at Peking University, where he became involved in student politics
- Widely speculated that Li Keqiang was former President Hu Jintao’s preferred successor, but lost the top job to Xi Jinping
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China’s most prominent activists, scholars and journalists have released an open letter urging leaders to implement political reforms, for the second time in three months.
More than 100 people signed the open letter urging Beijing to ratify an international human rights treaty.
The letter was posted on several prominent Chinese websites and blogs.
It comes just days before Chinese leaders gather for the annual parliamentary session in Beijing.
At the meeting, new Communist Party leader Xi Jinping will be installed as China’s president, taking over from Hu Jintao, completing the 10-yearly power transition.
“We solemnly and openly propose the following as citizens of China that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) be ratified, in order to further promote and establish the principles of human rights and constitutionalism in China,” the letter said.
The ICCPR is part of the International Bill of Human Rights created by the United Nations. It calls for basic civil and political rights of individuals, including freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.
Beijing signed the treaty in 1998 but the Chinese parliament has never ratified the document.
The open letter was signed by many prominent thinkers in China, including economist Mao Yushi, legal scholar He Weifang and Dai Qing, an outspoken political activist.
In December, many of the same people also signed a strongly worded open letter demanding political reform within China, including an independent judiciary and meaningful democratic change.
“If reforms to the system urgently needed by Chinese society keep being frustrated and stagnate without progress,” December’s letter warned, “then official corruption and dissatisfaction in society will boil up to a crisis point and China will once again miss the opportunity for peaceful reform, and slip into the turbulence and chaos of violent revolution.”
China’s most prominent activists, scholars and journalists have released an open letter urging leaders to implement political reforms, for the second time in three months
The language in the more recent letter was much more conciliatory, acknowledging the difficulties of enacting meaningful political change within China while also emphasizing that signing the ICCPR would be a “feasible” goal for Chinese leaders.
Journalist Wang Kexin said he was confident China’s leaders would ratify the ICCPR during the upcoming parliamentary session, a goal he acknowledged was “very mild and conservative”.
“We don’t dare to dream that China will make a lot of progress in one giant leap,” Wang Kexin said.
“The country develops step by step and our efforts are also aimed at changing things step by step. This is the embarrassing situation we are in now.”
He did not want to identify the person who first wrote the letter and collected the signatures, blaming his reluctance on “China’s special situation”.
According to the China Media Project, a group based at Hong Kong University which monitors the Chinese media, this week’s letter was scheduled to be released on Thursday.
However, the authorities reportedly heard about the letter early, leading its supporters to bring publication forward by two days. Mention of the letter has since disappeared from many internet sites within China.
Xi Jinping has been confirmed as China’s leader for the next decade.
Xi Jinping led the new Politburo Standing Committee onto the stage at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, signaling his elevation to the top of China’s ruling Communist Party.
The party faced great challenges, he said, but would work meet “expectations of both history and the people”.
Most of the new committee are seen as politically conservative, and perceived reformers did not get promotion.
Xi Jinping replaces Hu Jintao, under whose administration China has seen a decade of extraordinary growth.
The move marks the official passing of power from one generation to the next.
Xi Jinping was followed out onto the stage by Li Keqiang, the man set to succeed Premier Wen Jiabao, and five other men – meaning that the size of the all-powerful Standing Committee had been reduced from nine to seven.
Those five, in order of seniority, were Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang, Shanghai party boss Yu Zhengsheng, propaganda chief Liu Yunshan, Vice-Premier Wang Qishan and Tianjin party boss Zhang Gaoli.
The new leaders had great responsibilities, Xi Jinping said, but their mission was to be united, and to lead the party and the people to make the Chinese nation stronger and more powerful.
“The people’s desire for a better life is what we shall fight for,” he said.
Corruption had to be addressed, he said, and better party discipline was needed.
“The party faces many severe challenges, and there are also many pressing problems within the party that need to be resolved, particularly corruption, being divorced from the people, going through formalities and bureaucratism caused by some party officials,” Xi Jinping said.
“We must make every effort to solve these problems. The whole party must stay on full alert.”
The new Standing Committee was endorsed in a vote early on Thursday by the new party Central Committee, but in reality the decisions had been made in advance.
The new leaders will gradually take over in the next few months, with Hu Jintao’s presidency formally coming to an end at the annual parliament session in March 2013.
Xi Jinping has also been named chairman of the Central Military Commission, a Xinhua news agency report said, ending uncertainty over whether that post would be transferred from Hu Jintao immediately.
Xi Jinping has been confirmed as China’s leader for the next decade
Hu Jintao’s predecessor, Jiang Zemin, held on to the post for two years after he stood down from the party leadership.
New Standing Committee member Wang Qishan has also been named head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – the party’s anti-corruption watchdog.
Xi Jinping, a former Shanghai party chief, was appointed to the politburo in 2007.
A “princeling” – a relative of one of China’s revolutionary elders – he has spent almost four decades in the Communist Party, serving in top posts in both Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, as well as Shanghai.
His speech drew praise online, with a number of netizens liking his more informal style.
“This big boss at least is talking like a human being. I won’t comment on the rest,” well-known Chinese journalist Gong Xiaoyue said via micro-blog.
Xi Jinping, 59, is said to be a protégé of Jiang Zemin, while Li Keqiang is said to have been Hu Jintao’s preferred successor.
Hu Jintao has been the Communist Party chief since he led the Standing Committee line-up out on stage in November 2002.
Under his administration China has seen a decade of rapid development, overtaking Japan as the world’s second-largest economy.
But the development has been uneven, leading to a widening wealth gap, environmental challenges and rumbling social discontent over inequality and corruption.
Analysts say there has been division at the very top of the leadership in the lead-up to the party congress, with two rival factions jostling for position and influence.
The transition process has also been complicated by the scandal that engulfed Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai – a powerful high-flier once seen as a strong contender for the top leadership. His wife has been jailed for murdering a British businessman and he looks set to face trial on a raft of corruption-related charges.
That notwithstanding, the power transition process has been orderly, for only the second time in 60 years of Communist Party rule.
“The ostensible lack of drama throughout the week-long session may disappoint sensation seekers,” China Daily said in an editorial on Thursday before the new Standing Committee line-up was announced.
“But the confidence in continuity, instead of revolutionary ideas and dramatic approaches, means a better tomorrow is attainable.”
Xi Jinping
- Born in Beijing in 1953, father was Xi Zhongxun, a founding member of the Communist Party
- Sent to work at a remote village for seven years when he was 15
- Studied chemical engineering at Tsinghua University and spent time at a US farm in 1985
- Was Shanghai party chief in 2007 and became vice-president in 2008
- Seen as having a zero-tolerance attitude towards corrupt officials
- Married to well-known Chinese folk singer and actress Peng Liyuan with whom he has a daughter
Chinese Communist Party in numbers
- Ruled China since 1949
- 83 million members in 2011
- 77% of members are men
- Farmers make up one third of membership
- 6.8 million members work for the Party and state agencies
- Funded by government grant and membership dues
- Private businessmen allowed to join since 2001
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China is set to unveil the new leaders who will rule for the next decade.
Early on Thursday, selected Communist Party delegates will endorse the new Politburo Standing Committee – the highest decision-making body.
The committee line-up will then be made public at 11:00, when leaders walk out in order of seniority.
Vice-President Xi Jinping is set to succeed outgoing leader Hu Jintao as party chief. Vice-Premier Li Keqiang is also on course for a top-level post.
It is not yet clear who will fill the other spaces on the committee or indeed how many spaces there will be.
Recent months have seen speculation that the committee could be reduced from nine to seven members.
Front-runners include Vice-Premier Wang Qishan, propaganda chief Liu Yunshan, party organization chief Li Yuanchao, Tianjin party boss Zhang Gaoli and Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang.
Guangdong party chief Wang Yang, Shanghai party boss Yu Zhengsheng and the only female politburo member, Liu Yandong, are also thought to be in contention.
Although the Central Committee delegates – elected before the week-long party congress closed on Wednesday – will vote for the new Standing Committee, in reality the selection will have been made ahead of time.
The move marks a generational shift in the party’s top ranks – the new leaders will be mostly in their late 50s.
They will gradually take over in the next few months, with Hu Jintao’s presidency formally coming to an end at the annual parliament session in March 2013.
The Communist Party will also announce on Thursday whether Hu Jintao will retain control of the Central Military Commission or pass it on to Xi Jinping. Hu Jintao’s predecessor, Jiang Zemin, held on to the post for two years after he stood down from the party leadership.
Vice-President Xi Jinping is set to succeed outgoing leader Hu Jintao as Chinese Communist Party chief
Hu Jintao has been the Communist Party chief since he led the Standing Committee line-up out on stage in November 2002.
Under his administration China has seen a decade of extraordinary growth, overtaking Japan as the world’s second-largest economy.
But the development has been uneven, leading to a widening wealth gap, environmental challenges and rumbling social discontent over inequality and corruption.
On Wednesday, a party congress resolution hailed achievements under Hu Jintao, saying China had seized “the important period of strategic opportunities” for development.
Centralized party leadership was “the source of its strength and a fundamental guarantee for China’s economic and social development”, it emphasized.
Xi Jinping, a former Shanghai party chief, was appointed to the politburo in 2007.
A “princeling” – a relative of one of China’s revolutionary elders – he has spent almost four decades in the Communist Party, serving in top posts in both Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, as well as Shanghai.
He is said to be a protégé of Jiang Zemin, while Li Keqiang is said to have been Hu Jintao’s preferred successor.
Analysts say there has been division at the very top of the leadership in the lead-up to the party congress, with two rival factions jostling for position and influence.
The transition process has also been complicated by the scandal that engulfed Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai – a powerful high-flier once seen as a strong contender for the top leadership. His wife has been jailed for murdering a British businessman and he looks set to face trial on a raft of corruption-related charges.
That notwithstanding, the power transition process has been orderly, for only the second time in 60 years of Communist Party rule.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that the US administration wants to normalize trade relations with Russia this month.
Hillary Clinton said the government was working closely with the US Congress to get the necessary legislation passed.
She was speaking ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Vladivostok.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged a fight against protectionism to turn the global economy around.
And Chinese President Hu Jintao promised his country would try to help the world’s economy by increasing the demand in China for imported goods.
Hillary Clinton speaking ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation APEC summit in Vladivostok
Although Russia is now a member of the World Trade Organisation, there is still a piece of legislation that prevents US companies trading normally with Russia – the 1974 Jackson-Vanik amendment which, although suspended, remains in place.
In her speech to the APEC summit in the Russian port city, Hillary Clinton – who is standing in for President Barack Obama – said she welcomed Russia’s commitment to playing a greater role in the Asia-Pacific region.
She added: “To make sure our companies get to compete here in Russia, we are working closely with the United States Congress to terminate the application to Jackson-Vanik to Russia and grant Russia permanent normalized trade relations.
“We hope that the Congress will act on this important piece of legislation this month.”
However there are concerns in the US Congress about Moscow’s support for Iran and Syria, as well as its broader human rights record, so the timing of a vote on the issue remains unclear.
Vladimir Putin, who is hosting the summit, expressed concern about the world economy, and particularly Europe’s debt crisis.
“The priority goal is to fight protectionism in all its forms. It is important to build bridges not walls,” he said.
President Hu Jintao said: “The world economy today is recovering slowly, and there are still some destabilizing factors and uncertainties.
“The underlying impact of the international financial crisis is far from over.
“We will work to maintain the balance between keeping steady and robust growth, adjusting the economic structure and managing inflation expectations. We will boost domestic demand and maintain steady and robust growth as well as basic price stability.”
Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has left the talks early to return home after her father died.
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President Vladimir Putin is beginning a three-day visit to China, with energy and foreign policy expected to dominate the agenda.
The Russian president said ahead of the trip that he wanted to further boost booming bilateral trade, which reached $84 billion last year.
The Syrian crisis is also expected to be discussed during the talks.
Russia and China have resisted Western pressure to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power amid ongoing unrest.
China’s envoy to the UN, Li Baodong, has described Syria as one of the most pressing issues on the agenda of the Security Council.
Beijing currently holds the council’s rotating presidency, and Li Baodong urged all parties to immediately implement the peace plan of UN envoy Kofi Annan.
President Vladimir Putin is beginning a three-day visit to China, with energy and foreign policy expected to dominate the agenda
Syria’s rebel Free Syrian Army said on Monday it was no longer committed to the nominal ceasefire.
Spokesman Sami al-Kurdi told Reuters news agency the FSA had begun attacking soldiers to “defend our people”.
Vladimir Putin will hold extensive talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao later on Tuesday.
The Russian leader is taking to Beijing six cabinet ministers, the head of gas giant Gazprom and other energy companies.
Some 17 major business and trade deals between Russia and China are expected to be signed in Beijing, Vladimir Putin’s aides say.
But it remains unclear whether this will include a long-awaited gas agreement that would allow Moscow to supply some 70 billion cubic metres of gas to its neighbor.
Latest reports suggest that pricing disagreements remain between Russia, the world’s biggest energy producer, and China, the largest consumer of energy.
On the eve of the visit, Vladimir Putin told China’s state media that he wanted to increase bilateral trade to $100 billion in 2015 and $200 billion by 2020.
He said the target could be achieved “ahead of schedule”.
On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin will meet Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, who is tipped to be the next premier, and Xi Jinping, who is expected to become next president after a stage-managed leadership change later this year.
While in China, Vladimir Putin will also attend a regional security summit on Thursday.
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir says Sudan has “declared war” on his country, following weeks of fighting along their common border.
President Salva Kiir was speaking in China, which is a major buyer of oil from both countries, but has long been an ally of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir.
Meanwhile, Sudanese warplanes conducted multiple bombing raids against Southern border regions in the early morning.
The raids followed a fatal bombing near the border town of Bentiu on Monday.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack, in which a market was bombed, killing at least one person and injuring many others.
The latest attacks hit the towns of Panakwatch and Lalop, and the Teshwin border post, the AFP news agency reported.
South Sudan became independent last year, following decades of conflict.
There have been tense relations since then, primarily over the division of oil reserves and the full definition of borders.
Salva Kiir was speaking as he met Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Beijing, after arriving there on Monday for a five-day visit.
South Sudanese president said his visit came “at a very critical moment for the Republic of South Sudan because our neighbor in Khartoum has declared war on the Republic of South Sudan”.
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir says Sudan has "declared war" on his country, following weeks of fighting along their common border
Salva Kiir called China one of his country’s “economic and strategic partners”.
Chinese state television quoted Hu Jintao as urging calm and restraint on both Sudans.
Sudan has made no formal declaration of war, but analysts say Salva Kiir is clearly escalating the war of words.
Beijing has urged an end to the recent hostilities, during which Southern forces occupied Sudan’s most important oil field, in the Heglig area, saying it belonged to the South.
South Sudan says its forces withdrew from Heglig after two weeks, but Sudan says it expelled them, killing 1,000 soldiers.
Omar al-Bashir says he will not negotiate with the South and has vowed to continue military action until all Southern troops and their allies are out of Sudan.
On Monday, Ban Ki-moon called on Omar al-Bashir and Salva Kiir “to stop the slide toward further confrontation and… to return to dialogue as a matter of urgency”.
US President Barack Obama has said both countries “must have the courage” to return to the negotiating table and resolve their differences peacefully.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said on Tuesday that oil was “the economic lifeline for both countries”.
Liu Weimin added: “To maintain the stability and sustainability of the oil cooperation is consistent with the fundamental interests of both countries. It is also consistent with the interests of Chinese enterprises and their partners.
“We hope the oil negotiation between Sudan and South Sudan will make progress and [the two countries] will find a solution that both of them and other sides involved can accept.”
In January, South Sudan shut down oil production, which provides 98% of its revenue, after Khartoum impounded South Sudanese oil shipments amid a dispute over transit fees.
South Sudan took most of the former united Sudan’s oil reserves when it became independent but relies on pipelines to seaports in Sudan to export it.
South Sudan voted overwhelmingly in favor of secession in a January 2011 referendum, leading to independence six months later.
