Air force commander Xu Qiliang looks set for elevation

The youngest member of the Central Military Commission (CMC), 62-year-old PLA air force commander General Xu Qiliang , is a front runner to become one of the commission's two professional vice-chairmen next month.

Thanks to his military talent and close ties with powerful former CMC chairman Jiang Zemin , Xu appears to be in pole position in the race to become one of two uniformed CMC vice-chairmen from the PLA, ahead of arch-rivals General Chang Wanquan , a fellow CMC member and director of the PLA's General Armaments Department, and General Fan Changlong , the 65-year-old commander of the Jinan military area command.

Chang, 63, is generally considered a protégé of CMC chairman Hu Jintao .

If Xu does become a CMC vice-chairman after the party's 18th national congress, which will open on November 8, he will also become a member of the party's decision-making Politburo, which will rule China for the next five years.

For years, "princelings" - the children of communist veterans - have dominated high-ranking positions in the PLA.

There have long been rumours that Xu is one of them, and owes his rise to being the son of late lieutenant general Xu Lefu , a former deputy political commissar of the air force.