Chongqing comes in from the Bo Xilai cold with visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping
The southwest boomtown of Chongqing (重慶) might have put the disgrace of its former Communist Party chief behind it with President Xi Jinping (習近平) making the city the focus of his first domestic trip this year.
The trip is also expected to focus attention on Chongqing’s status as an important driver of economic growth.
In the first visit to the city by a president in more than eight years, Xi toured Guoyuan Port on Monday afternoon and was briefed on shipping and rail transport, according to state-run Xinhua’s social media account. “[The port] has great prospects,” Xi was quoted as saying.
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Xi later visited a factory operated by Beijing Orient Electronics, the country’s biggest maker of semiconductor display devices.
Chongqing is one of China’s four municipalities but it has been a long time between presidential visits. “Where the top party leader goes and where he doesn’t go has important symbolic meaning,” said Chen Daoyin, a political scientist at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. “This trip is recognition for the new leadership in Chongqing.”
Xinhua showed photos of Chongqing party boss Sun Zhengcai (孫政才) and Mayor Huang Qifan accompanying Xi on the visit. Both are seen as front runners for promotion in the next major personnel reshuffle.
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“The power transition of the 19th party congress [due in 2017] is coming and Xi doesn’t seem to mind promoting people from other camps,” Beijing-based political observer Zhang Lifan said.
