China set to unveil leaders with Xi Jinping at the helm

BEIJING (AFP) - China will unveil its new leaders Thursday, with Vice President Xi Jinping expected to march on stage at the head of a line-up that will steer the world's number two economy for the next decade.

Mr Xi, who will succeed President Hu Jintao as head of the ruling Communist Party, assumes power at an uncertain time with urgent calls for action on corruption and an overhaul of China's economic model as growth stutters.

His long-expected ascension as head of the ruling Communist party is expected to take place before midday with the unveiling of a new Politburo Standing Committee, the nation's top decision-making body.

According to tradition, the committee is to be briefly paraded before the media inside Beijing's cavernous Great Hall of the People, the scene of all China's headline political events.