Xi Jinping, the presumed heir to the current General Secretary and President Hu Jintao, has been away from the public eye for ten days now, producing various rumors about his whereabouts. It is an urgent matter for China because Beijing is expected to hold its 18th party convention for transfer of power in a month.

Xi canceled meetings with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on September 5 and another meeting with the Danish Prime Minister on September 10, without notice. Yet the Chinese government has not explained why this happened and it is an unprecedented matter for China, which puts a lot of stress on the protocol.

Xi attended a speech held at the Central Party School on September 1, and that was the last time Xi was seen in public. Hong Kong’s Apple Daily reported that Xi might have health problems or might even be resigned because of pressure from the other party members.

Meanwhile, some foreign media, including the New York Times, reported that health issues may in fact be the case, but that they are not believed to be critical or in any position to cause problems for the transfer of power to Xi. However, the Chinese government has not said anything so far regarding this matter, making people more curious about what is happening in China.

Foreign media has suggested several scenarios of what could have happened to Xi. They range from recovering from an injury while playing soccer or swimming, to involvement in a car accident at the hand of supporters of Bo Xilai, Xi’s competitor, or having suffered a heart attack. Among these possibilities, many have emphasized the first one.

On September 13, Hong Kong’s Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy (ICHRD) said in a press release that Xi had surgery last month because of liver cancer at the People’s Liberation Army 301 Hospital in Beijing, and is currently recovering but otherwise has no problem with his health. However, there is no way of confirming this because the Chinese government is continuing its silence about Xi.

Xi Jinping, born on June 1, 1953, is a high-ranking politician of the People’s Republic of China. He studied at Tsinghua University, one of the most prestigious schools in China, and started his early career serving mostly in the Fujian province. He currently serves as the country’s Vice President. He is supported by both right wings and left wings and considered as China’s future leader.

Image Courtesy of   Antonio Villaraigosa

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Kyiv, Ukraine  — Ukraine will be able to export 20-21 million tons of grain this marketing year, said the Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Prysyazhnyuk. This amount, he said, was based on 10 million tons of carry-over stock of grain from last year and this year’s forecasted crop of 45 – 46 million tons.

So far, Ukraine harvested 12.1 million tons of wheat, 5.5 million tons of barley, and 336 thousand tons of rye, reported Prysyazhnyuk.

The aim for Ukraine is to double its agricultural production, said the Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov on July 26. The plan is to increase grain production to 80 – 100 million tons a year, and vegetables – to 30 – 40 million tons a year and a lot of it will depend on investments, he said. According to Ukrainian PM, the last year’s growth rate of investment in agriculture has been much higher than that in other industries; investment in agriculture in 2011 compared with 2010 increased by 7.2 times.

Notably, in July of 2012 the People’s Republic of China allocated the USD 3 billion loan for a set of projects in Ukraine’s agricultural sector. The bilateral cooperation included Ukraine purchasing crop-protection agents, seeds, and equipment from China, land cultivation, construction of a plant for organic fertilizer processing and crop-protection agents production, as well as selling grain to China. The loan was issued for 15 years with annual interest rate of six percent.

In 2011, Ukraine joined world’s top three grain exporters. A year prior – in 2010 – Ukraine landed fourth on the list of leading grain exporters, following the USA, the EU, and Canada. Moreover, Ukraine currently ranks number one in global barley exports. Additionally, Ukraine became the third largest corn supplier in the world in 2011, surpassing Brazil and being the second runner-up to the USA and Argentina.

Top grain customers of Ukraine are Armenia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Liberia, Portugal, Spain, and many others. In April of 2012, Ukraine and Jordan agreed that Ukraine would construct elevator facilities in Jordan. They are set to increase grain supply from Ukraine to Jordan, as well as to several neighboring states.

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