China - Hu Jintao gains power

[dud]

Is this a good thing?

"Instead, Mr. Zeng and Mr. Hu joined forces last year to push Mr. Jiang to retire and to give up his position as leader of China's military, party insiders said. That cleared the way for Mr. Hu to become military chief and weakened the formidable political network Mr. Jiang had constructed in his 13 years at the helm.

Their alliance has shored up the Communist Party as it faces enormous stresses, including simmering social unrest and an uphill struggle to curtail corruption. They have quieted talk of serious factional splits and paved the way for Mr. Hu to impose his orthodox, repressive stamp on Chinese politics."

"The leadership has also fired editors at publications that defied orders from the party's Propaganda Department, including, most recently, the bosses of the elite Workers' Daily newspaper and its associated publishing house, party insiders said. They have also tightened rules on foreign investment in China's television industry."

"Mr. Hu now relies on Mr. Zeng to manage crises, much as Mr. Jiang once did.

It was Mr. Zeng who oversaw the arrangements for the funeral of Zhao Ziyang, the party chief who became a hero to many government critics for opposing the leadership's decision to forcibly suppress the Beijing democracy protests in 1989. Mr. Zhao was purged and spent 15 years under house arrest before he died in January."

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Is this a good thing?

586579054[/snapback]

They have quieted talk of serious factional splits and paved the way for Mr. Hu to impose his orthodox, repressive stamp on Chinese politics.

H? Jǐntāo is considered a moderate but not too moderate.

Although reform minded, Hu has also sometimes taken a harder line than his predecessor. Many who thought he may have been a closet liberal prior to his ascession have been sorely disappointed by his crackdowns against journalists and political dissidents.

...

Furthermore the Chinese leadership under Hu has also focused on such problems as the gap between rich and poor and uneven development between the interior and coastal regions. Both party and state seem to have moved away from a definition of development that focuses solely on GDP growth and toward a more balanced definition which includes social equality and environment effects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Jintao

I believe my father has met with him in person.

[jack_canada]

Young, open minded and decisive, very intelligent person. All members of the highest tier of the Chinese Government were engineers.