China’s decade-long wait for its leadership transition is expected to end on November 8, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The date was proposed by the Communist Party of China’s Central Committee on Friday. The party had initially planned for the 18th National Party Congress to convene on October 15 but apparently experienced setbacks amid escalating tensions with Japan over territorial disputes in the East China Sea.
The party congress will officially handover power to President Hu Jintao’s successor Vice President Xi Jinping and determine whether Mr. Hu will remain chairman of the Central Military Commission. The congress will also decide whether the size of the Standing Committee of the party’s Political Bureau will be reduced to seven from the current nine posts, The Nikkei reports.
The Central Committee is set to finalize schedules of the upcoming congress expected to last a week. Mr. Hu will also deliver a work report on the first day of the congress summarizing his work and achievements during his 10-year leadership. The report will also include basic policy plans for the future. The congress “will make strategic plans for the overall advancement of China’s reform and opening up and socialist modernization drive, as well as for the overall advancement of party-building in the new era,” Xinhua reports.
