Hu has tried to build an image for himself as a champion of ordinary Chinese, having himself photographed visiting laborers and migrant herders. He has called for government officials to be more professional and accountable.
Lieberthal said that as changes accelerate, China could see direct elections within a year at the county level and to city-level offices by 2010. That could put popularly elected figures into positions with responsibility over millions of people.
Ultimately, he said, the ruling party could be aiming at a system like that of the Institutional Revolutionary Party of Mexico or the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. Both stayed in power for decades by uniting a wide array of competing factions -- then keeping them together by not demanding ideological unity.
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