Inside Report (1)

The bureaucratic thinning going on in Peking this spring is letting some new leaders blossom.

Chief to watch among them, say several China watchers, is Wu Xueqian, recently appointed first deputy foreign minister. They believe he is being groomed to succeed Huang Hua as foreign minister next year.

Before moving to the Foreign Ministry, Mr. Wu was a deputy director of the Communist Party's International Liaison Department.

Wu worked for many years in the Communist Youth League under Hu Yaobang, who was the league's secretary general. His appointment is taken as a sign that Hu, appointed Communist Party chairman last June, is beginning to place some of his own people in key positions throughout the bureaucracy.m