He was one of the youngest politicians promoted to the party's 25-member Politburo after its congress last month, placing him at the forefront of leaders slated to rule China following the next power transition in 2022, analysts said. Hu is already one of the most prominent politicians of his generation and is seen as a protege of current outgoing Chinese president Hu Jintao, earning the nickname "little Hu".
Analysts say the alliance boosts his chances of promotion to the very top echelons of power, given the factional nature of Chinese politics, where progress depends on receiving support from senior backers while not alienating rival camps. Hu was a senior party official in Tibet in the 1980s, where he oversaw a crackdown on anti-Beijing protesters. But in his last post as party chief of the north-eastern Inner Mongolia region he was seen as taking a more conciliatory line towards protests by ethnic Mongolians in 2010.