As Americans prepared for the 2012 presidential election, China anticipated its own leadership transition. Today 2,280 Chinese Communist Party delegates arrive in Beijing for the Party’s 18th Congress, during which time President Hu Jiantao is expected to cede his position to his presumed successor, Xi Jinping.
While the party set much of the Congress agenda before the meeting, apart from Xi Jingping’s new role, the CCP has yet to reveal the rest of China’s new leadership. The party has suffered a number of setbacks over the past few years, including the Bo Xilai murder scandal and the infrastructure problems revealed after the 2011 train crash that killed 40 people.
What should the Chinese people expect from their new president? How will the CCP leadership transition affect US-China relations? James Fallows, national correspondent for The Atlantic, explains. His most recent book is “China Airborne.”