Completing its once in a decade leadership transition, China Thursday formally named Xi Jinping as the president of the communist country.

Xi Jinping who was appointed as the general secretary of the Communist Party last November, formally replaced the outgoing President Hu Jintao Thursday.

The country's rubberstamp legislature nominated Jinping with a ritual ballot at the Great Hall of People in Beijing and some 3,000 National People's Congress deputies took part in the vote at the annual parliament session this week.

Jinping is also announced to be the Chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission.

The Chinese leader with a revolutionary family background joined the Chinese Communist Party January 1974.

Li Keqiang is also in line to formally replace the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in a similar symbolic ballot Friday.

A member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party Central Committee, Li Yuanchao was elected as Vice-president of the country.

With a revolutionary family background, whose father Xi Zhongxun  was persecuted, jailed and had spent long periods in supervised confinement in Beijing , Xi Jinping appears to be a figure of hope for many of the 'occupied regions' in the country.

Speaking at a press conference last year, Director of the New York based Students for Free Tibet Tenzin Dorjee expressed his hope that the new Chinese president might bring positive changes to the Tibetan plateau.

"The challenge before Xi is to take the path of his father, a revolutionary hero and bring about a peaceful resolution for Tibet, or be remembered as a failed leader like Hu Jintao," said Tenzin Dorjee.

Just three weeks ago, more than 100 Chinese scholars, activists and journalists sent an open letter to the Chinese political leaders urging them to ratify the "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), in order to further promote and establish the principles of human rights and constitutionalism in China."

The letter was circulated on several of the popular Chinese websites in the country.

In recent months, Xi Jiping has also hinted that the Communist party might collapse if it fails to embrace the political changes. Xi's December visit to Shenzhen, one of the first Chinese cities to adapt capitalism, was seen by many as a positive sign of his willingness to bring greater liberalization in the country.

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