Chinese vice president Xi to visit Japan in fall or later: sources+

TOKYO, March 14 Kyodo - Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the most prominent candidate to succeed President Hu Jintao, will likely visit Japan in the fall or later this year, with the schedule pushed back from the initially planned first half of the year, sources familiar with bilateral relations said Saturday.

The delay of Xi's Japan visit suggests Beijing wants to see if the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Taro Aso can hold on to power by
winning a general election which must be held by the fall, as the Japanese
premier's support rate remains low.
The Chinese government, however, still plans to dispatch the 55-year-old Xi,
who is placed sixth in the Chinese Communist Party hierarchy, to Japan by the
end of the year, as part of bilateral exchanges of high-level officials.
Beijing hopes Xi will discuss a wide range of issues with the Japanese leader,
including how to deal with the global economic crisis and North Korea from a
long-term perspective, the sources said.
Separately, Li Changchun, who ranks fifth in the communist party, is scheduled
to visit Japan on March 29. Li and Xi belong to the party's powerful nine-man
Standing Committee of the Politburo.
In 1998, Hu traveled to Japan in the capacity of vice president. Tokyo expects
to promote Chinese next-generation leaders' understanding of the country
through the visits, the sources said.
==Kyodo
2009-03-14 23:16:22