Chinese Leader Gives Up Last Governing Role

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The New York Sun

BEIJING – Hu Jintao, 61, became the undisputed leader of China as the country completed its first orderly transfer of power in the Communist era yesterday with the departure of Jiang Zemin, 78, from his top military post, giving a younger generation a freer hand to run the world’s most populous nation.


Mr. Jiang, the former president, whose term as military leader was to have run until 2007, resigned at a meeting of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee.


Analysts did not expect Mr. Jiang’s exit to affect Beijing’s stance on relations with America or Taiwan, economic reform, or other key issues. He and Mr. Hu are not known to have had any major policy disagreements, and both support continued capitalist-style reforms and one-party Communist rule.


But the consolidation of the top party, government, and military posts in Mr. Hu’s hands will allow him and his premier, Wen Jiabao, to act more decisively as the government copes with challenges such as wrenching economic changes and rural poverty.


Mr. Hu replaced Jiang as party leader in late 2002 and as president early the next year. But Mr. Jiang, who led China for 13 years, retained influence by holding onto his military post, even as all his contemporaries retired in a long-planned handover of power to younger leaders.


“This is a good, positive step because it finally completes the systemic change,” a China specialist at Oxford University’s Oriel College, Sin-ming Shaw, said. “To have someone as chairman of the party and not control the guns is very awkward. This will definitely make things easier.”


A statement by the 198-member Central Committee said the handover of power was conducive to upholding “the party’s absolute leadership over the military,” the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said Mr. Jiang’s resignation showed “his broad-mindedness as a true Communist.”


State television devoted its entire evening newscast to the transfer of power, extending the half-hour program by 15 minutes. An anchor read from Mr. Jiang’s resignation letter, dated September 1, saying he had “always looked forward to complete retirement from leading positions for the good of the long-term development of the cause of the party and the people.”


There was no immediate indication why Mr. Jiang chose to cut short his term. But it might suggest that he felt he had succeeded in ensuring his political legacy, especially the addition of the pro-capitalist Three Represents ideology that he championed to the party’s constitution, as well as the interests of his family and allies. The ideology, in simplified form, invites entrepreneurs into the party, redefining communism and daring critics to point out ideological contradictions.


The party spent nearly a decade preparing for the handover, hoping to avoid the upheavals that have accompanied earlier transfers of power.


China’s communist founder, Mao Zedong, picked Hua Guofeng to succeed him on his death in 1976. But Hua lasted only a few months before being pushed aside by Deng Xiaoping, who went on to launch reforms that fueled China’s two-decade economic boom. Deng dismissed his own hand-picked successor, Zhao Ziyang, in 1989 after the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations and a power struggle that nearly tore apart the party.


Mr. Jiang, a former Shanghai mayor, was almost unknown when Deng picked him to succeed Mr. Zhao and later to lead the nation. Mr. Zhao still lives under house arrest more than 15 years later.


Deng himself nominated Mr. Hu as Mr. Jiang’s eventual successor in the early 1990s.Mr.Jiang said in his resignation letter that he decided to leave the Central Military Commission after “meticulous consideration.” He said Mr. Hu was “absolutely qualified for this post.”


State television showed Mr. Hu and Mr. Jiang walking side by side in the cavernous Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, greeted by thunderous applause from the Central Committee members as they posed for photos. Dressed in a dark suit and red tie, Mr. Jiang shook hands and waved to the officials. “I am so happy to see all of you today,” Mr. Jiang said. He called for the party to “work hard and keep advancing under the leadership of the party Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao.”


Xu Caihou, 61, will succeed Mr.Hu as deputy chairman of the military commission, Xinhua said.


That was a surprise choice, because many had expected Vice President Zeng Qinghong, a former Jiang aide and protege, to become deputy leader of the commission.


The New York Sun

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