Power struggle in Beijing: Hu vs Jiang

[mom cat]

China

Power struggle in Beijing: Hu vs Jiang
By Wang Chu

HONG KONG - China watchers, the Zhongnanhai watchers, like Kremlin watchers before them, scrutinize the comings and goings of leaders, their lineup for official photos, changes in their positions and especially their non-appearance. And their changed schedules, too, are scrutinized, like entrails, for what the reconfiguration may or may not mean in terms of the Chinese leadership, who holds power, whose grip is getting stronger and whose is slipping. Slight discrepancies and nuances in protocol open vast horizons of speculation - and so it is today. Transparency doesn't translate well into Chinese.

Some Chinese call it "wrestling", some just call it a struggle in the corridors of power.

On June 28, Chinese President Hu Jintao abruptly canceled his planned attendance at the 28th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) held in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou and only addressed the meeting with a written statement. Generally speaking, the host country's head of state usually makes a presentation at major WHC meetings worldwide, as did French President Jacques Chirac at the previous session in Paris the previous June.

In fact, Hu chose to stay in Beijing and entertain the visiting Argentine President Nestor Kirchner. Political commentators point out that the shift in his schedule and protocol is a result of the recently intensified wrestling, or power struggle, between Hu and the former president Jiang Zemin, the country's commander-in-chief and chairman of its highest military body, the Communist Party's Central Military Commission (CMC). Jiang holds significant influence in the corridors of power in Beijing. It seems quite plausible that Hu would change his agenda to meet a friendly state's president, but knowledgeable sources told Asia Times Online that there was "an inside story behind the shift".

It's not easy to unearth the "inside story", but one thing is for sure: Hu is now busy hedging his bets and countering his predecessor's recent moves, in an effort to increase his own influence in Beijing. Maybe it was better politically to remain in Beijing than to visit Suzhou. But being president isn't everything.

http://atimes.com/atimes/China/FG08Ad04.html