President Hu set to emerge stronger from China Congress

BEIJING, Saturday (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao is set to oust political rivals, promote allies to key posts and emerge politically stronger from a Communist Party conclave. Hu's rival-turned-ally, Vice President Zeng Qinghong, is poised to retire, presenting a boon to Hu, who is seeking to consolidate power at the 17th Party Congress ending tomorrow.

Another rival, Chen Liangyu, was sacked as Shanghai Party boss last year and faces trial for corruption. You Xigui, director of the Party's powerful Bodyguards Bureau and a holdover from the era of Hu's predecessor, Jiang Zemin, will retire after he was left out of the running for a seat in the Party's elite 200-odd member Central Committee.

People walk past a billboard slogan about the ongoing 17th Communist Party Congress on a street in Beijing on Saturday. The billboard reads: “Conscientiously study and implement the spirit of the 17th Party Congress.” The week-long congress ends Sunday, with the country's new leadership lineup expected to be announced either on Sunday or Monday. (AP)

Several Hu allies who cut their teeth in the Communist Youth League, Hu's power base, are tipped for higher office, and one-third of provincial leaders rose through the Youth League. Li Keqiang, Party boss of the northeastern rust-belt province of Liaoning, is front-runner to be promoted to the top echelon of power, the Party's nine-seat Politburo Standing Committee.

Another Hu ally, Liu Yandong, minister of the Party's United Front Work Department responsible for winning over non-Communists, is a shoo-in to become the only female member of the Politburo, ranked one notch below the Standing Committee.
Li Yuanchao, Party boss of wealthy Jiangsu province in the east coast, and Wang Yang, who runs the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, are candidates to join the decision-making 20-odd member Politburo.

All have Youth League backgrounds.“Hu is now a super-patron who can dispense favours and insert people in key party, government and military positions,” said Alfred Chan, a political scientist at Canada's Huron College.“Rejuvenation is urgent. The designation of a successor or successors for 2012 is more an institutional requirement than Hu's alleged desire to pick an ally to perpetuate his legacy.”

The final line-ups of the Politburo and the Standing Committee will be made public at a one-day post-Congress meeting of the new Central Committee on Monday. The new inner core is also likely to include Shanghai Party boss Xi Jinping and other, younger faces who do not necessarily owe their allegiance to Hu, but analysts say their promotions are part of Hu's design to accommodate interest groups, rather than a capitulation to his rivals.