By DPA
Beijing : China’s ruling Communist Party Monday appointed four new members of the all-powerful standing committee of its Politburo, unveiling the younger men who are likely to lead the country from 2012.
State and party leader Hu Jintao introduced his new team to reporters and confirmed that the party’s Central Committee had re-elected him as its general secretary for a second five-year term.
Among those elevated to the standing committee were Shanghai party leader Xi Jinping, 54, and Liaoning provincial party chief Li Keqiang, 52.
Xi and Li are the favourites to replace Hu when he retires from the party leadership at its next congress in 2012 under age and tenure linked rules.
Hu said Xi and Li were “relatively young” leaders and that the whole group was committed to developing China’s “socialist market economy”, “socialist democracy” and a “harmonious society”.
“We are keenly aware of the difficult tasks and great responsibilities,” Hu said.
“We will always hold high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
Zhou Yongkang, China’s public security minister, and party organisation chief He Guoqiang are the other new members of the elite group.
Li is considered a protégé of 64-year-old Hu while Xi is seen as closer to former leader Jiang Zemin and his ally Zeng Qinghong, who retired from the party leadership on Sunday at the end of the party’s five-yearly congress.
Zeng, 68, was among three older members of the standing committee who stepped down after the congress, along with China’s top public security official, 72-year-old Luo Gan, and 69-year-old party discipline chief Wu Guanzheng.
A fourth vacancy was created by the death of standing committee member Huang Ju earlier this year.
The party’s five-yearly congress on Sunday amended the party constitution to incorporate Hu’s ideas for a “scientific outlook on development”, building a harmonious society and promoting socialist morality.
“As a congress of unity, victory and progress, it is of vital importance to the whole party,” Hu said of the congress.
The standing committee represents 73 million party members among China’s 1.3 billion people.