China's Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) took the helm of the world's most populous nation yesterday, but President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) clung to power from the shadows of retirement by stacking the Communist Party's new leadership with allies.
Hu, 59, was appointed party chief at the head of the "fourth generation" of leaders.
After months of secretive jockeying, the new lineup emerged from behind a carved wooden and lacquer screen in the Great Hall of the People in the dramatic finale to the first succession in China untainted by purges, plots or bloodshed.
"On behalf of all members of the newly elected central leadership, I thank all comrades of the Party for their trust," said Hu, in a dark suit and red tie, as China's new leaders faced the world's media for the first time.
The ceremony, televised live, was the first many of China's 1.3 billion people learned of the most sweeping shakeup since Jiang took power in 1989 after a bloody crackdown on student protests on Tiananmen Square.
"Jiang Zemin's not there!" a stunned Li Jiahui exclaimed in a Beijing carpet shop as he watched his new leaders file out behind Hu, the only one on the previous Politburo Standing Committee.
"We didn't expect so many to retire," said Zui Yan, 29, finance officer at a joint venture company in Beijing.
The new Standing Committee was expanded from seven to nine members and packed with Jiang allies, guaranteeing him a say in policy making.
Jiang kept his post as head of the Central Military Commission. However, it was unclear if Jiang would keep the position only until a parliament meeting next year, for two years like Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), or for the full five years until the next congress in 2007.
Jiang also wields power as author of the "Three Represents" theory which was written into the party constitution on Thursday, putting him on a symbolic plane with Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and Deng.
Hu pledged to follow Jiang's theory, which sanctions opening the party to private entrepreneurs. He also vowed to push ahead with economic reforms.
"The whole party and people from all ethnic groups will unite more closely and concentrate on construction and development so as to continue pushing forward China's reform, opening up and modernization drive," he said.
The 15-minute ceremony in the Great Hall offered no further clues to Hu, who looked relaxed and confident during his speech, referring only occasionally to his notes, and introduced his colleagues with a couple of light off-the-cuff remarks.
Hu was effectively designated Jiang's heir when he was made the youngest member of the Standing Committee in 1992, but has kept a very low profile ever since.
The new Standing Committee, expanded to nine members for the first time since 1973, contained six people with close affiliation to Jiang, analysts said.
Premier Zhu Rongji's (朱鎔基) favorite -- Vice Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), 60 -- became No. 3 in the party.
Parliament chief Li Peng's (李鵬) protege -- internal security chief Luo Gan, 67 (羅幹) -- was last in the nine-man leadership, although not head of the party's anti-corruption body as expected.
Most important was the promotion of Jiang's main adviser and hatchet man, Zeng Qinghong, 63, (曾慶紅) who takes over the day-to-day running of the party as head of its powerful Secretariat.
Vice Premier Wu Bangguo (吳邦國), 61, a former Shanghai party boss, became party No. 2 and is expected to take over the parliament in March.
Beijing's former party boss, Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), 62, joined the Standing Committee despite being tainted by a huge smuggling scandal that unfolded when he was party boss in Fujian Province.
Huang Ju (黃菊), 64, who stepped down as Shanghai party chief last month, took the No. 6 slot and is likely to become the executive vice premier.
Wu Guanzheng (吳官正), 64, party boss in Shandong Province, was No. 7 and took over the party's anti-corruption Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
No. 8 was Li Changchun (李長春), 58, party boss of Guangdong Province.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS