China's presumed next leader reappears in public

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping addresses the opening ceremony of the autumn semester of the Party School of the Communist Party of China in Beijing Sept. 1, 2012, in this picture released by China's Xinhua News Agency. / AP Photo/Xinhua

Updated 11:21 PM ET

(AP) BEIJING - China's presumed next leader made an appearance Saturday for the first time since dropping from public view earlier this month, a two-week absence that fueled rumors about his health and raised questions about the stability of the country's succession process.

Vice President Xi Jinping appeared at China Agricultural University in Beijing for activities marking National Science Popularization Day, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

The three-line Xinhua report did not address why Xi had not been seen publicly since Sept. 1. Since then, he has canceled meetings with visiting foreign dignitaries including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt. The Chinese government has yet to explain Xi's public absence.

Xinhua photos showed a smiling Xi on Saturday, clad in a windbreaker. He appeared to be healthy.

His prolonged and unexplained disappearance had fed rumors about health problems facing Xi, 59, who is due to take over as the ruling Communist Party's leader later this year and as president next year as China transitions to a new generation of leaders.

Early rumors said that Xi had thrown his back out swimming or pulled a muscle playing football. As the days passed and Xi was still not seen, speculation escalated to more serious conditions, including a heart attack, stroke and emergency surgery.

While the Communist Party has become more sensitive to public opinion over nationalism and social unrest, it reverts to its roots as a clandestine organization when it comes to the leaders' private lives. Their health also has been considered a state secret.

Xi is expected to succeed Hu Jintao as party leader at an upcoming party congress. Though the date for the congress has not been announced, it is widely expected to be held in late October.

The leader-in-waiting's sudden disappearance on the eve of his ascension comes during a year full of unforeseen political developments that had already threatened hopes for a smooth party leadership.

Most notably, the case of Bo Xilai, one of China's most charismatic and ambitious politicians who fell from power in March, remains unsettled. Bo's downfall sparked a dramatic scandal that led to his wife's conviction for murdering a British businessman.

Bo's former aide, Wang Lijun, will stand trial Tuesday in southwest China's Chengdu city for defection, bribery and other charges.

Wang served as the police chief in Chongqing under Bo but lost his job for still unexplained reasons. In February, Wang fled to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, where he told U.S. diplomats about his suspicions linking Bo's wife to the murder case.

[cbs_bull]

Guess Xi just took a vacation and had good time with his girlfriend in South America. Just like Mark Sanford, the South Carolina Governor, but a few days longer ...

[matt6052]

China experts saw great symbolism in Xi's choice of events to stage his reappearance. Education, agriculture, and science are considered to be subjects of great importance by the central government. Likewise, Xi's choice of a windbreaker jacket signaled China's continuing commitment to producing good quality synthetic textiles for export.

[booooooCBSboooooooooooo]

If it was not for America, China would have been defeated by Japan is WW2. If it were not for America, China would not be able to produce a simple table fan.

Everything China knows now was given to them by American politicians who sold us out for personal gain. Blame the corporations all you want, but they were not able to open shop overseas without the politician's approval. That's a fact.

[jefforsythe]

Western Governments and media are quite aware of the brutality of the cruel gangster regime known as the Chinese Communist Party but they prefer to skate around the real issues concerning human rights in Mainland China. Ralph Nader, famed U.S consumer advocate, once stated that there is no democracy in North America, it is simply 130 greedy corporations running our Governments, turning their backs on the heinous crimes against humanity that have been and still are being committed by the CCP. Crimes such as the attempted genocide of tens on millions of innocent Falun Gong practitioners by the use of torture, slavery, organ harvesting and murder. This is just my understanding, thank you.