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Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping, who was not seen in public for over two weeks, was reportedly under intense pressure by the Communist party. Xi Jinping, 59, came under attack from party elders, who described him as "unreliable" and questioned whether he should be elevated to the pinnacle of Chinese power. Xi is expected to be appointed the nation's new leader at the National Congress of the Communist Party of China next month. The attacks came at the beginning of August at a short and bad-tempered meeting in Beidaihe, a Chinese seaside resort, when senior party members gathered to negotiate and address two primary agendas: who should be on the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, and how to deal with Bo Xilai, the Politburo member whose wife has been convicted of murdering the British businessman Neil Heywood. "At the Beidaihe meeting, no decisions were made but the old gang criticised Xi harshly, especially Qiao Shi and Song Ping," the Telegraph quoted a former editor of a state media outlet, as saying, on the condition of anonymity. Both Qiao, 87, and Song, 95, are strong supporters of Hu Jintao, the outgoing president. The senior party colleagues allegedly accused Xi of 'not sticking to the rules' when he met with the members of the Central Military Commission in July, which controls the People's Liberation Army, the paper said. The pressure on Xi, who is the focus of the world's attention as he tries to grasp his chance to be president, may explain his mysterious absence, it added.

Xi Jinping faced pressures from within Communist Party prior to disappearance