BEIJING -- As China's Communist Party prepares to choose its leaders for the next five years, all eyes are on the makeup of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee, which President Xi Jinping looks to fill with close allies.
The party's twice-a-decade National Congress, which will elect a host of officials including members of the party's Central Committee, begins Wednesday, and will run through Oct. 24, a spokesperson for the event said Tuesday. The day after it ends, the new central committee will hold its first meeting, and choose the elite few who will occupy the coveted standing committee seats, of which there are currently seven.
