China's nominal state parliament on Thursday appointed Communist Party leader Xi Jinping as the nation's president to succeed Hu Jintao, dpa reported. Xi, 59, who succeeded Hu as leader of the ruling Communist Party in November, was approved in a single-candidate vote by some 3,000 delegates to the annual National People's Congress. Xi's candidacy was approved and recommended to the congress by earlier meetings of party leaders. He is expected to serve as president and party leader for the next 10 years. He won 99.7 per cent of the 2,961 votes counted, with just one vote against him and three abstentions, officials said. Li Yuanchao, head of the party's Organization Department, was appointed vice president, winning 96 per cent of the votes counted.
