As Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) prepares to step down from his leadership posts at a Communist Party Congress next month, officials in Taiwan are taking stock of his legacy -- and finding Jiang wasn't all bad.
They credit him with reining in mavericks in the PLA to keep crises from boiling over into war and are counting on Jiang to break a three-year deadlock in cross-straits relations even after retirement.
Put simply: Jiang is the devil they know, while the man expected to replace him, Vice President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), is the devil they don't.
"Jiang Zemin is steadier in terms of dealing with foreign and Taiwan affairs," said Hsu Szu-chien, a China watcher at National Chengchi University's Institute of International Relations.
Hu, 59, is poised to take power. But there is speculation Jiang does not want to retire from all his posts.
Either way, local officials and analysts expect Jiang to retain a high degree of influence over foreign policy matters -- particularly on China's often stormy relations with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). And, they say, Chen has made it clear who he'd rather deal with.
In May, Chen invited China's leaders to Taiwan for tea. He named no names but one of his aides later said the gesture was aimed at Jiang, not Hu.
"Relatively speaking, Jiang Zemin is a moderate and more acceptable. Hu Jintao is an unknown," said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"There would be a certain degree of stability if Jiang Zemin retained influence," the aide said.
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