Hu seeks clean power handover with military promotion, sources say

China’s outgoing President Hu Jintao is angling to promote one of his closest allies to the military’s decision-making body, sources said, in a move that would allow him to maintain an influence over Beijing’s most potent instrument of power.

Three sources with ties to the top leadership said Hu hopes to cut all of his direct links to the top echelons of power by early next year, on the understanding that his protege, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, is made a vice-chairman of the military commission at the party’s five-yearly congress later this year.

Hu wants a clean handover of the party leadership, the presidency and the top military post to his anointed successor, Xi Jinping, over the next seven months, to avoid a repeat of the past internal rancour when a transition of power took place, sources say.

They point to the example of his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, who clung onto the top job at the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission for two years after stepping down as party chief and president, a move seen as unpopular with party cadres and the public.

Hu, as president, is the current military commission chairman and, like Jiang, could choose to stay on as its chief for another couple of years beyond his handover of the presidency to Xi in March next year.

In what is seen as the ultimate bulwark of power, the commission oversees the 2.3-million strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as well as the People’s Armed Police which enforces domestic security.