Is This The Country That Canada Wants To Enter Trade Agreements With?

Image of Xi Jingping from Drudge

Here is a headline this morning over at Drudge:

MYSTERY ABSENCE OF CHINA LEADER FUELS RUMOR FRENZY...

Which is linked to an AP News article with the same heading:

Here is part of the article:

Where is president-in-waiting Xi Jingping?

Is he nursing a bad back after pulling a muscle in a pick-up soccer game (or maybe in the swimming pool)? Has he been convalescing after narrowly escaping a revenge killing by supporters of ousted local Communist Party boss Bo Xilai? Was he in a car accident? Or is he just really busy getting ready to lead the world's No. 2 economy ahead of an expected leadership transition next month?...

[V]ice president has gone unseen for more than a week. During that span, Xi canceled meetings with visiting foreign dignitaries including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. On Monday, it was the Danish prime minister's turn.

Xi's whereabouts during this sudden absence from the spotlight may never be known. One thing, however, is certain: China may now be a linchpin of the global economy and a force in international diplomacy, but the lives of its leaders remain an utter mystery...

So when the presumptive head of that opaque leadership disappears from public view, rumor mills naturally go into a frenzy...

[T]he U.S.-based website Boxun.com cited an unidentified source inside Zhongnanhai as saying Xi was injured in a staged traffic accident that was part of a revenge plot by Bo's supporters in the security forces...

This year, China has seen an unusual amount of political intrigue, with the spectacular downfall of Politburo member Bo exposing divisions within the leadership and prompting rumors of nefarious activity ranging from the wiretapping of top leaders to an attempted coup.

And this is the country that Canada wants to enter trade agreements with, about which I wrote here, in my blog post Oh Canada! China's Stooge:

Harper would rather negotiate with a secretive, ex-Communist country, rather than place some long-term bet on his European westerners.