Win McNamee/Getty Images

File: U.S. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping meets with U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at the Pentagon February 14, 2012 in Arlington, Virginia.

It's been two weeks now since China's designated new leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping has been seen in public.

He's cancelled meetings with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other foreign diplomats, and his disappearance has stoked speculation, not just about him, but about the state of internal politics in China.

A Martinez speaks with Marketplace China correspondent Rob Schmitz who joins us from Shanghai.