Where is Xi Jinping? The man anointed to take the helm of the world’s second-largest economy and most populous nation seems to have disappeared with just weeks to go before he is due to be officially elevated to lead the Chinese Communist Party.
Over the last week Mr Xi has cancelled at least four scheduled meetings with visiting dignitaries, including a Russian delegation, the prime minister of Singapore and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last Wednesday, and the prime minister of Denmark, whom he was scheduled to meet on Monday.
An official account did not list him among the attendees at an unscheduled meeting held last Friday by China’s central military commission, of which Mr Xi is vice-chairman.
Mr Xi’s mysterious disappearance has sparked fevered speculation about his whereabouts and political infighting just months after the purge of senior Chinese leader Bo Xilai shook the ruling party and led to rumours of an attempted coup.
It also underscores the opacity and lack of a strong institutionalised mechanism for transferring power in China’s authoritarian one-party political system.
In response to repeated questions from reporters on Monday, China’s foreign ministry appeared unable or unwilling to reveal Mr Xi’s whereabouts.
Late last week the foreign ministry invited overseas media to cover a meeting between Mr Xi and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt scheduled for Monday afternoon - but on Monday the ministry denied that the meeting was ever supposed to take place.
When pressed on reports that Mr Xi had suffered a back injury, a ministry spokesman said “We have told everybody everything,” and refused to elaborate.
“We know Xi Jinping is supposed to be the next leader [of China] but we have very little idea how he was chosen, which is quite amazing for such a significant position in world politics,” said David Zweig, a professor specialising in Chinese politics at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. “Perhaps he’s got some health problems, but they don’t want to let the public know about it because they feel it’s important to present the image of a strong healthy leader taking China into the future.”
