Hu Jintao steps down in once-in-decade transfer of power paving way for Xi Jinping
Beijing, Nov. 14 (ANI)
President Hu Jintao has finally stepped down as Communist Party leader to make way for Vice President Xi Jinping to take the helm in China.
More than 2,200 delegates met on the final day of a pivotal party congress in China's Great Hall of the People to 'rubber stamp' a new era of government.
In a closing statement, Jintao said the congress had 'replaced older leaders with younger ones' and made decisions of 'far-reaching historical significance'.
According to the Daily Mail, designated as successor five years ago, Jinping will take over as party general secretary from Jintao tomorrow and as president next spring, in China's second orderly transfer of power in 63 years of communist rule.
Li Keqiang also is due to take over from Wen Jiabao as premier.
The changeover is part of only the second orderly transfer of power in 63 years of communist rule.
Jintao and other senior leaders, mostly in their late 60s, are handing over power to the leader-in-waiting and other colleagues in their late 50s over the next few months, the report said.
It is unclear whether Jintao will relinquish his most powerful remaining position as head of the commission that oversees the military, or hold on to it for a transitional period as previous retiring leaders have done, the report added.