Will intellect behind 3 decades of China's policies soon exit power?

BEIJING -- Rumors are circulating that Wang Huning, a key policy adviser to President Xi Jinping and his predecessors, could step down from the Communist Party's top decision-making body at the national congress that kicked off Sunday.

Wang is seen as a main architect of Xi's government's hard diplomatic line toward the West that has brought Beijing into conflict with the U.S. and Europe -- a stance for which he has caught flak within the party.