New leaders to steer China through time of heightened anxiety within party and society Vice President Xi Jinping, the 59-year-old son of a famed Communist revolutionary general, is expected to take over the party's top position, general secretary, Thursday from Hu Jintao, who remains president until March. But it is unknown what direction Xi and the other new leaders will take. While waiting in the wings for the past five years, Xi has carefully avoided giving any hint of his priorities, keeping strictly neutral to avoid endangering his status as heir among the party's competing factions. Any changes to the system envisioned by Xi are likely to be constrained by several older party leaders considered more conservative in outlook, who many believe will be named Thursday to the Politburo Standing Committee. The body effectively runs the country and is expected to shrink from nine to seven seats. The transition is not likely to dramatically change China's relations with the United States. Xi was long known as the heir apparent, and the Obama administration began cultivating ties with him, including sending Vice President Biden on a lengthy trip here in 2011; Xi played host in Beijing and Sichuan province in the southwest. Xi made a reciprocal trip to the United States this year with Biden as his host, and they attended a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game. But in coming months as Xi consolidates his power, military tensions are likely to remain high, as the United States continues its policy of rebalancing toward Asia and shoring up its alliances with countries surrounding China. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is on a week-long trip that will take him to Thailand, Cambodia and Australia, where the United States has been expanding military cooperation and establishing a base in the northern coastal city of Darwin. And this month, President Obama will travel to Cambodia, Thailand and Burma, the latter stop symbolically important, as the United States and China are seen as rivals for influence in that strategically located Southeast Asian country. This year's leadership transition is China's first in a decade, and only its second without chaos or bloodshed. The first real orderly transition was in 2002, when Jiang Zemin stepped down in favor of Hu. Hu and Jiang were handpicked for leadership from relative obscurity in the aftermath of the bloody 1989 massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators at Tiananmen Square. One thing made clear amid the past week of ceremonial pomp here in Beijing is how thoroughly the aging Jiang has continued to dominate China's leadership, appearing publicly at the opening of the congress and pushing his allies into key positions at the expense of Hu and other party grandees. According to early rumors, most of the seven Standing Committee seats will be filled by officials associated with Jiang. And several contenders who lost out were known for their more reformist views and their ties to Hu.