Beijing:
China's parliament formally elected heir-in-waiting Xi Jinping as the country's
new president on Thursday, completing the country's second orderly political
succession since the Communist Party took power in 1949.
The largely
rubber-stamp National People's Congress chose Xi in a tightly scripted ceremony
at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, putting the final seal of
approval on a generational transition of power.
Xi was
appointed party and military chief - where real power lies - in November.
Xi drew just
one no vote and three abstentions from the almost 3,000 delegates.
The
59-year-old was also elected head of the Central Military Commission, the
parallel government post to the party's top military position which he already
holds, ensuring that he has full power over the party, state and armed forces.
There was
virtually no opposition among the carefully selected legislators to Xi becoming
president. Xi drew just one no vote and three abstentions from the almost 3,000
delegates.
Xi bowed
deeply and shook hands with his predecessor Hu Jintao upon the announcement of
the result, carried live on state television. Xi and Hu exchanged a few
inaudible words.
Li Yuanchao
was also elected vice president. Vice Premier Li Keqiang is set to succeed
Premier Wen Jiabao in a similarly scripted vote on Friday.
Hu, 70,
relinquished the presidency after serving the maximum two five-year terms. Hu's
accession to president a decade ago marked Communist China's first peaceful
transition of power. Violent events such as the Cultural Revolution and the
1989 Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators had overshadowed
previous hand-overs.
Since taking
up the position of the much more powerful post of party chief last November, Xi
has focused his rhetoric on fighting corruption and promoting austere practices
such as banning senior military officers from holding alcohol-fuelled banquets.
Many Chinese
hope Xi will bring change in a country that has risen to become the world's
second-biggest economy but is marred by deepening income inequality, corruption
and environmental destruction left over from the administration of Hu and Wen.
Xi inherits
a constituency that is more distrustful of government and well-versed at using
the Internet to criticize their leaders.
At the same
time, his administration must deal with a slowdown in economic growth, juggle
the urgent task of calming a frothy housing market, defuse local government
debt risks and wean China off its addiction to investment-led expansion.
Xi will also
have to deal with an increasingly provocative North Korea and tensions with the
United States, Japan and Southeast Asia.
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