BEIJING: Xi Jinping has made his first public communication in nearly two weeks,
state media said Thursday, amid swirling speculation about the whereabouts of
China's leader-in-waiting.
Vice President Xi has not been
seen in public for 13 days and has cancelled meetings with four foreign
dignitaries including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, giving rise to
intense speculation about his health.
His unexplained disappearance has
come at a highly sensitive time for China, which is gearing up for a
generational handover of power that has already been marred by two major
political scandals involving senior communist officials.
On Thursday, state media said he
had "expressed condolences on the death of old party comrade Huang
Rong", who died on September 6 -- a day after Xi missed a planned meeting
with Clinton.
The report in the Guangxi Daily
newspaper -- a mouthpiece of the Communist Party committee in China's southern
Guangxi region -- marked the first public communication by Xi since he
delivered a speech on September 1.
Xi has been widely tipped to
succeed President Hu Jintao as leader of the ruling Communist Party at a
crucial meeting that is expected to be held some time next month, before taking
over as head of state in March.
His disappearance from public
view has attracted global attention, as well as some speculation on China's
popular but heavily censored microblogs.
China's government has so far
given no explanation for his absence. At a daily media briefing on Thursday,
foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei refused for the fourth day running to
answer repeated questions about Xi's whereabouts.
Hong did, however, say that
preparations for the 18th Communist Party Congress -- where Xi is expected to
be named party leader -- were "well under way", adding that
"Chinese authorities will release relevant information in due
course".
The dates of previous party
congresses have been announced months in advance, and some experts have
suggested the delay in announcing the schedule for this year could be linked to
Xi's absence from public view.
However, analysts of Chinese
politics say Xi is likely suffering from a relatively minor health complaint,
as anything more serious would have prevented President Hu from leaving the
country to take part in last week's APEC summit.
- AFP/al
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