BEIJING -- The biggest question to be answered in this week's high-profile Chinese Communist Party meeting will likely not be who is being set up to succeed President Xi Jinping, but who will be the next second in command.
Economic and diplomatic problems create bumps for Xi's ambitions

From left: Hu Chunhua, Li Qiang and Li Xi. (Photos by Akira Kodaka)
BEIJING -- The biggest question to be answered in this week's high-profile Chinese Communist Party meeting will likely not be who is being set up to succeed President Xi Jinping, but who will be the next second in command.