M.D. Nalapat
Manipal, India — Four years before Chinese
President Hu Jintao took over as both head of state and, more importantly in
China, head of the Communist Party, this observer of his country had deduced
that he was on a steady ascent to full power. Even in 1998 it was clear that
the mild-mannered, ever-courteous lifelong Party member was a deadly player on
the chessboard of power.
Over the preceding years he had avoided
much entanglement with the reigning hierarchies in the only parts of China that
President Jiang Zemin was interested in, the high-growth centers along the
coast and Beijing. Instead, he used the anti-corruption machinery of the state
and Party to prise away those who were less than completely loyal to Deng Xiaoping's
personal choice to replace Jiang in 2002.
Barring a handful of provinces, by 1999 Hu
had put into position individuals that he could relate to and that were far
removed from the glitzy and immensely wealthy Jiang cohort. Over the next
couple of years, he interacted extensively with senior military and civilian
cadres, almost always leaving the impression of a thoughtful individual whose
objective was to ensure the continuation of China's ascent begun under Mao and
Deng.
