Young party cadres begin jockeying for leadership positions

Jockeying for prominence among the ranks of aspiring Communist Party cadres has begun on the mainland as the party prepares to headhunt young cadres as part of an across-the-board reshuffle over the next three years.

The ruling party is expected to endorse a new leadership lineup in 2012 when President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and many other older party cadres within the hierarchy are expected to retire, setting the stage for ambitious younger cadres to compete for some of the key posts.

During a forum on the cultivation and selection of young cadres at the end of last month, Vice-President Xi Jinping, Mr Hu's heir apparent, stressed the need to have a mechanism in place to select and groom standout cadres who had the necessary morality and expertise, with morality paramount.

However, some of the crop of young cadres have fallen from grace in recent years as an unprecedented number of young and low-level cadres and officials have been indicted on corruption charges.

Tang Xianwen, a section head in charge of trade promotion in Guangxi, was arrested in October 2005 after he was found to have made 10 million yuan (HK$11.3 million) from the illicit sale of imported cars.

The public has been dismayed over scandals in which officials have been exposed for networking or paying for promotions, which often come with enormous benefits.