State media report that Xi Jinping is to take the reins of China’s all-powerful Communist Party in a leadership transition that will put him in charge of the world’s number-two economy for the next decade.

Xi, the current vice president and successor to President Hu Jintao, assumes power at an uncertain time with the party facing urgent calls to clean its ranks of corruption and overhaul its economic model as growth stutters.

His long-expected ascension as head of the ruling party took place at 0400 GMT along with the unveiling of a new Politburo Standing Committee, the nation’s top decision-making body.

According to tradition, the members marched out before the media in a pecking order agreed after years of factional bargaining, a process which intensified in the months leading up to the five-yearly reshuffle.

In a 20-minute speech broadcast live on Chinese state TV and worldwide, Xi admitted there were problems within the CPC that had to be resolved.

“The problems among the party members and cadres of corruption, taking bribes, being out of touch with the people, undue emphasis on formalities and bureaucracy must be addressed with great efforts. The whole party must be vigilant against them,” he said.
Xi will consolidate his position at the apex of national politics by being named China’s president by the rubber-stamp legislature next March, for a tenure expected to last through two five-year terms.

Xi will also become head of China’s military, marked a break from the recent tradition of retiring leaders holding onto the post for a transitional period to extend their influence.

It meant outgoing leader Hu Jintao would relinquish all positions of power, giving Xi broader leeway to consolidate his authority.

“Xi Jinping is the chairman and he is the sole chairman, and what makes that important is that it gives him the independence, strength and power to exercise leadership,” said China analyst and author Robert Lawrence Kuhn on Thursday.

The standing committee, which had nine members under Hu, has been slimmed to seven and includes Vice Premier Li Keqiang, which would set him on the path to be appointed premier from next March.

Other members include Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli.

They will be tasked with addressing a rare deceleration in economic growth that threatens the party’s key claim to legitimacy – continually improving the livelihoods of the country’s 1.3 billion people.

China is also bubbling with localised unrest often sparked by public rage at corruption and government abuses, and by myriad manifestations of anger among the millions left out of the country’s economic boom.

The communists have a monopoly on political power in China and state appointments are decided within the party.

The process began with behind-the-scenes horse trading and political deals.

It was essentially finalised on Wednesday when the party ended a week-long congress by announcing a new Central Committee of 205 people.

On Thursday, the Central Committee approved the higher leadership bodies, including the elite Politburo Standing Committee.

Factional politics

Observers believe two main factions have been jockeying for power, one centred largely on protégés of former president Jiang Zemin and another linked to allies of Hu.

Xi is considered a consensus figure who leans toward Jiang, while Li has long been seen as a Hu protégé.

Analysts say that despite rivalries between the two camps which are largely divided along patronage lines, they broadly agree that China must realign its economy away from a dependence on exports, while maintaining a firm hand on dissent.

The government ramped up security in Beijing and increased oversight on popular social media sites to prevent any criticism during the gathering.

The run-up to this year’s congress was unsettled by events surrounding Bo Xilai, a political star seen as a candidate for a top post until a scandal in which his wife was convicted of murdering a British businessman.

The sensational affair torpedoed Bo’s political career – he will face trial for charges of corruption and abuse of power – and added to the intrigue in the run-up to the transition.

Reactions

In the streets of Beijing, people gathered to watch as the new leadership committee was announced.

Many said they were hopeful the transition would lead China to a prosperous future.

“We are very satisfied with the new leadership line-up we just saw, we can rest assured now, and more importantly we have high expectations for the new leadership,” said a tourist from Sichuan Province.

Across the Taiwan Straits, the Taiwanese are watching the situation very closely. China has long claimed Taiwan as a renegade province.

“To tell the truth, Xi Jinping has just assumed office, we are not very clear of his policy, direction and style, but after all I think he should be following Hu Jintao’s direction, because the cross-strait relation has been good so far, and he should follow through,” said one Taipei resident. “That’s the best way.”

“Xi Jinping has good relations with the Taiwanese businessmen, so I hope Taiwan’s economy will improve,” said a young Taiwanese worker.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, China analyst Willy Lam said Xi could take a harder line in foreign policy “in order to consolidate his power quickly.”

“So we expect, perhaps, possible military confrontation with Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam over sovereignty disputes concerning the islands in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.”

In Japan, the new leadership was cautiously welcomed. Its foreign ministry said Japan wants to develop “mutually beneficial” relations with China’s new leaders.

“We really hope that the mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests will be further developed and enhanced with the new leadership” of China, the ministry’s Deputy Press Secretary Naoko Saiki said.

In North Korea, leader Kim Jong-un welcomed China’s new leadership and pledged to continue to develop bilateral relations.

*Published under an agreement with Al Jazeera.

China’s ruling Communist Party has launched its national congress, a pivotal event that ushers in a new set of top leaders for the next decade.

More than 2,200 delegates gathered at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Thursday for the start of the week-long session that will install Vice President Xi Jinping as the party’s new general-secretary.

The meeting is the start of a carefully choreographed but still fraught power transfer in which President Hu Jintao and most of the senior leadership begin to relinquish office to younger leaders.

Addressing the gathering, Hu said that corruption threatened the party and the state, and promised political reform.

“If we fail to handle this issue (corruption) well, it could prove fatal to the party, and even cause the collapse of the party and the fall of the state,” Hu said in an opening speech.

“Reform of the political structure is an important part of China’s overall reform. We must continue to make both active and prudent efforts to carry out the reform of the political structure and make people’s democracy more extensive, fuller in scope and sounder in practice.”

Patrick Chovanec, an economics professor at Tsinghua University, told Al Jazeera that he doubted China would implement major reforms.

“When we hear the words political reform, we tend to think elections and independent judiciary. Those things are not really what they mean,” he said.

“They mean perhaps having two party members running for an office, instead of one party member.”

“I don’t think that necessarily we may see big steps. But maybe we will because with the rising middle class in China, there is a lot of pressure for people to have a greater say in the decisions that affect them.”

Economic reform

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Beijing, said that his speech also emphasised economic development and improving the country’s education system.

He said that Hu’s speech noticed “the importance of spreading education as widely as possible. He says education is the engine by which developments within China can continue”.

“And it has been ten years of rule which has seen massive changes in China in economic development, unprecedented since perhaps the British industrial revolution way back in the 18th century,” he added.

Hu will give up his role as party chief to anointed successor Vice President Xi Jinping. Xi then takes over state duties at the annual meeting of parliament in March.

Xi, 59, has been second in command to Hu since 2008.

Along with the rest of the future leadership, he will take the helm amid growing pressure for the party to reform to curb rising corruption and encourage economic growth, which recently slowed to its lowest quarterly rate since 2009.

The congress is a public gathering of 2,268 delegates drawn from the 82 million-member party where the real deal-making is done by a few dozen power-brokers behind the scenes.

Eight out of 10 Chinese want political reform, according to a survey published on Wednesday by a state-run newspaper.

The poll, published by the Global Times newspaper, found that 81 per cent of people in seven major cities said they supported political reform, with 66 per cent feeling the government should face greater public scrutiny.

The Global Times is linked to the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, and the decision to publish the survey appeared to indicate the party wanted to be seen to be acknowledging the calls.

But while party leaders routinely express vague lip service to some form of future political reform, the Communists retain iron-clad control of Chinese power and multi-party democracy is firmly off the agenda.

Preparations for the congress have been rocked by the months-long controversy over former senior leader Bo Xilai.

Bo, the former party boss in the central city of Chongqing, was once seen as a candidate for promotion to the party’s top ranks. But he was brought down earlier this year by murder allegations against his wife.

*Published under an agreement with Al Jazeera.