World | Hu Jintao Meet China's Next President Hu's likely successor a well-connected political whiz By Matt Cantor Posted Jan 24, 2011 2:41 PM CST Copied U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, left, is welcomed by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping for their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Monday, Jan. 10, 2011. (AP Photo/Larry Downing, Pool) Next year, Hu Jintao is expected to step down as China’s president, leaving Xi Jinping in charge. He’s a mystery to most in his country, the New York Times notes, but he has ascended from regional leader to vice president on the strength of political savvy and family connections. The Times describes Xi as a pragmatist with a “conciliatory leadership style” who hasn’t shied from criticizing the West. Xi is a “princeling,” descended from revolutionary elites, but as a teen, during the Cultural Revolution, he lived and worked alongside peasants, eventually becoming a local leader. “Much of my pragmatic thinking took root back then, and still exerts a constant influence on me,” he wrote. He took a series of regional leadership positions and helped grow businesses that have since boomed. Says a US businessman, impressed with Xi’s ability to prompt compromise: “I thought, ‘This person is a brilliant politician.’” Read These Next Hulk Hogan has died. RIP, Chuck Mangione. The police files in the Idaho murders are extremely unsettling. Will we be calling 'artificial intelligence' something else? Report an error