Xi set to succeed Hu as China President, Li to be premier

China's vice president Xi Jinping is all set to be anointed as China's next president at the Communist Party's 18th National Congress session on Thursday.

Xi, 59, will succeed President Hu Jintao as the general-secretary of the 82-million-strong Communist Party at the meeting in the Great Hall of the People on Beijing's vast Tiananmen Square.

The heir apparent has been number two to Hu since 2008, and his appointment to head the all-powerful party will make his promotion to president of the world's most populous nation, expected in March, a formality.

Only two members of the powerful standing committee of the Chinese Communist Party's politburo, Xi and Li Keqiang, will continue in their positions after the 18th National Congress. Li is virtually certain to be the next premier, succeeding Wen Jiabao to take charge of day-to-day administration.

The roughly week-long congress will see more than 2,000 delegates appoint a new Central Committee of about 200 people. In turn, they choose the party's 25-strong politburo from their ranks and the elite nine-member politburo standing committee.

The congress will initially elect the Central Committee, which currently has 365 seats. The Central Committee has played an important role in Communist history, including ushering in economic reforms at its third plenary session in 1978. The meeting is scheduled to last six days.