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Hu Jintao reelected Chinese president
(Xinhua) Updated: 2008-03-15 11:50 What is it like to lead 1.3 billion people and keep an extremely vast, complicated country on the track of sustained economic growth accompanied with ever-increasing international prestige? China's Hu Jintao seems to be the one who can offer an admirable and convincing answer. The 65-year-old man was elected on Saturday to another term of five years as both Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, the country's top military command, by nearly 3,000 members of the national legislature. Five months ago, he was reelected general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the paramount decision-making body of the 73-million-member ruling party. In the next five years, he will continue steering China in all major Party, state and military affairs. Five years ago when first taking office as the Chinese president, Hu vowed to the people's delegates who voted for him: "I will fulfil the duty bestowed on me by the Constitution with great diligence, and serve my country and people heart and soul." He has proved himself a man of his word with a remarkable performance over the period. Mastermind of Scientific Development When Hu first took over the helm of the country, what he and his colleagues in the new leadership had inherited was a 25-year economic miracle featuring a stunning average annual growth of near-10 percent, as well as problems and challenges long veiled behind the rosy GDP figures -- widening urban-rural disparities, yawning income gap and deteriorating environment, just to name a few. In the spring of 2003, almost immediately after the new Chinese leadership was installed, Hu and his colleagues were confronted with the sudden outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). One day in April, citizens in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province worst hit by the deadly epidemic, were surprised to see Hu Jintao, wearing no facial mask, appear on a bustling downtown commercial street, smiling and waving to passers-by. According to Guangdong local officials, Hu flew to Guangzhou as soon as he learnt that the rage of SARS was peaking in the city and causing widespread public panic. But Hu wasn't there just for boosting public morale. Actually, it was during this Guangdong trip that he first put forth the idea of "a comprehensive conception of development," apparently a well thought-out answer to those hidden problems which had surfaced during the SARS crisis. Three months later in Beijing, Hu officially called for the endorsement of a new development model for the country, which he said should be more "comprehensive, balanced and sustainable" than the old GDP-oriented growth model. Four years later, the new theory, now formally named the "Scientific Outlook on Development", was written into the Party Constitution at the 17th CPC National Congress, becoming a guiding principle for the country's efforts to build "socialism with Chinese characteristics." A Beijing-based political observer said that he had closely watched the performance of Hu and other new leaders of China during the SARS outbreak. "I was impressed by the fact that they not only overcame this major public crisis in a rather short period of time, but also turned it into an opportunity to readjust China's development pattern," he said. However, the observer said that he didn't believe the new development concept was an overnight creation by Hu. As a matter of fact, people might find its earliest trace in a "development experiment" conducted by Hu two decades ago, when he was the Party chief of Guizhou, a secluded and underdeveloped province in southwest China. In 1988, Hu launched a pilot program of poverty reduction in Bijie, a poverty-stricken mountainous region in northwest Guizhou mainly inhabited by ethnic minority people. From the very beginning, Hu had championed the idea of "balancing and coordinating economic growth, social development and environmental protection" in implementing the program. Apart from the "Scientific Outlook on Development," Hu was also believed to be the mastermind and strong advocator of many other new political ideas and concepts that had gradually become popular phrases in the daily talks of the Chinese. Most of these rather big political terms were simplified into short and easy-to-remember phrases of four Chinese characters, such as "Yi Ren Wei Ben" (putting people first), "He Xie She Hui" (harmonious society), "Zhi Zheng Neng Li" (governance capability of the Party), and "Ba Rong Ba Chi" (eight do's and eight don'ts for social ethics). As China marks the 30th anniversary of its historic "Reform and Opening Up" policy this year, Hu has clearly stated that China will "unswervingly adhere to" this policy, which not only enjoys widespread support by the people, but also keeps up with the trend of the times. "The orientation and path of reform and opening up are entirely correct, and their merits and achievements can never be negated," said Hu. "To stop or reverse it would only lead to a blind alley." Political analysts both in and out of China say that Hu's statement has shown his confidence and determination to lead the country to advance steadfastly along the path of reform and opening up. It also helped end some unnecessary quarrel and debate in recent years regarding China's future development path. When it comes to promoting democracy in the world's most populous nation, Hu not only has a practical roadmap, but also a feasible plan of implementation. At the 17th CPC National Congress held in Beijing last October, Hu said in his keynote report that it is necessary to "expand intra-Party democracy to develop people's democracy." Calling democracy "the lifeblood of socialism," Hu conspicuously mentioned the word "democracy" more than 60 times in his report. He also outlined the specific measures for improving intra-Party democracy, which include increasing transparency in Party affairs, adopting a tenure system for Party congress delegates, expanding voting for use at local Party committees, reforming the intra-Party electoral system, and gradually extending the direct election of leading members in primary Party organizations to more places. Also at the 17th Party congress, for the first time in history, the CPC engaged its higher-ranking officials in a "democratic nomination" of candidates for the 25-member Party Central Committee Political Bureau, virtually putting the Party's new top leadership through a rare popularity test and competence evaluation. "Hu's ideas of democracy is new," said Cheng Li, a researcher with the US-based think bank Brookings Institution. Others say "there is more to expect" in China's democratic development. "WHO'S HU?" Answered Sources close to Hu say that they are often impressed by his capability to negotiate difficult situations, adding that Hu is able to take a firm stance and display reasonable flexibility at the same time. From the diplomatic perspective, the Chinese president's first state visit to the United States in April 2006 was a significant opportunity for both countries to push forward their "constructive and cooperative relations." Personally speaking, however, the president may have another mission to fulfil -- to answer a question once raised by a prestigious US magazine. "Who's Hu?" -- This was the title of a Time magazine profile story on Hu Jintao in 2003, when he was just elected president and appeared somewhat "mysterious" to the outside world. During his four-day visit, Hu engaged himself in extensive interactions with American business circles, tycoons, senior intellectuals, students and common people, many of whom were impressed and enchanted by his amicable, confident smile, candid attitude, and good sense of humor. Diplomatic sources recalled that during various talks, Hu never yielded on issues concerning China's core national interests. Meanwhile, he was always "friendly and willing to listen", and appeared ready to communicate on any topics. At the Yale University, Hu told his audience: "I hope when raising questions, my friends will give no mercy to me," cheering everyone up instantly, and discussed "democracy with Chinese characteristics" with the students. "He was really given some tough questions, and he handled them very well," said John Kennedy, one of the Yale students present. US President George W. Bush, who had first summit meeting with Hu in 2003, said on several occasions that Hu is a "smart man" that he likes to talk with and "share issues together." Four years after raising that question, the Time magazine put Hu Jintao on the list of Time's 100 who shaped the world in 2007. Very few heads of state in the world could have a tighter diplomatic schedule than Hu Jintao over the past five years. He set foot on dozens of countries in both the developed and developing worlds. He shook hands with 48 heads of state and government from Africa at the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, giving a strong push to the building of a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership. An inheritor of the ancient Chinese wisdom about "peace and harmony," Hu advocated the fresh concept of a "harmonious world" at the United Nations' 60th anniversary summit in 2005, explaining the Chinese view about international relations and reassuring the world of China's commitment to peaceful development. (more) |
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