Rumours fly over China’s ‘missing’ leader in waiting

China’s top leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping, who has set off a storm of rumours after not showing up at scheduled public events for more than a week, is nursing an ailment, possibly a back injury suffered while swimming, sources said.

Xi, who is due to take over the presidency of the world’s second-largest economy in March next year, has skipped several meetings with visiting foreign leaders and dignitaries over the past week, including US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and the prime ministers of Singapore and Denmark.

China’s government, however, has declined to spell out what is ailing Xi, 59 — in keeping with decades of official secrecy over the health of senior leaders.