In Break With Precedent, No Heir Apparent For China’s Xi Jinping

There was only one thing missing from the newly anointed leadership lineup announced at the close of China’s Communist Party Congress on Wednesday: an obvious successor for President Xi Jinping.

Xi, as expected, received another five-year term. But normally at this stage in a Chinese president’s tenure, a clear successor has taken the stage in the red-carpet ceremony at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. Instead, the six men standing with Xi are all in their 60s and considered too old to assume the top slot after their terms expire.

As NPR’s Anthony Kuhn reports from Beijing, the move — or its lack thereof — has “fueled speculation that Xi might break with recent convention, and try to stay in power beyond 2022.”