Analysis: Xi's entourage to Hong Kong, Xinjiang likely core of new team

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

Chinese President Xi Jinping recently went on two long-haul domestic trips, to Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, each requiring four-hour flights.