BEIJING, March 15, 2008 (AFP) - Rising political star Xi Jinping was elected China's vice president on Saturday in a result widely seen as putting him in line to succed President Hu Jintao in five years.

Xi, 54, received 2,919 votes for, 28 against, and there were 17 abstentions in a vote by the National People's Congress in Beijing.

The overwhelming endorsement was not a surprise because China's parliament is regarded as a rubber stamp body for the ruling Communist Party.