China's vice-president tiptoes on to world stage

By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping has tiptoed on to the world stage this Olympics, rubbing shoulders with U.S. President George W. Bush and foreign heirs apparent but making sure he doesn't steal President Hu Jintao's thunder.

China's parliament re-elected Hu as president in March and gave next generation leader Xi a five-year mandate as vice-president.

Xi, China's point man on the Olympics, has kept his head low because nothing is certain in the opaque world of successionist politics in China.

Mao Zedong's first chosen heir fell from grace and died in prison. The second was killed in a mysterious plane crash. The last was ousted by Deng Xiaoping after only a few years in power.

Of Deng's three successors, the first was purged, another died after 16 years under house arrest. The last, Jiang Zemin, ruled for 13 years before retiring in 2002 in China's first smooth generational leadership succession since 1949.

Xi made his first overseas trip as vice-president in June, choosing North Korea to hone his Marxist credentials and send a message to the Party that he is a Communist at heart will not dig the Party's grave by democratising China.

During the Games, Xi met Bush and North Korean parliament chief Kim Yong Nam separately, marking him as heir apparent to Hu, who doubles as Communist Party chief.

But Xi has not been as visible as Hu in the Chinese media.