Jiang Zemin has retired

Former President &to= english.pravda.ru/world/2002/11/05/39172.html ' target=_blank> Jiang Zemin gave up the top job in China's military yesterday, handing over his last post to the Communist Party chief, &to= english.pravda.ru/main/2002/05/08/28386_.html ' target=_blank> Hu Jintao , to complete the leadership transition to a younger generation. The Central Committee accepted the resignation of Mr Jiang, 78, on the final day of a four-day closed-door plenum and approved Mr Hu's rise to chairman of the Central Military Commission. Mr Hu, 61, who replaced Mr Jiang as party chief in 2002 and as president in 2003, now holds the three most powerful positions in China, completing out the first orderly succession in Chinese Communist history. "The Hu Jintao era has started," a Chinese analyst said. In a sign that Mr Jiang's influence is waning, his closest political ally, Vice-President Zeng Qinghong, did not join the military commission. Xu Caihou, 61, took the post of vice-chairman, the state Xinhua news agency said. Rivalry between Mr Hu and his predecessor had emerged subtly in recent weeks, but analysts said the rivalry had not developed into a full-blown power struggle because both saw stability as indispensable to sustaining the economic growth needed to maintain stability among China's 1.3 billion people, reports the NEWS. According to the Straits Times, former Chinese president Jiang Zemin yesterday relinquished his last official post as head of the military. The move completed the first peaceful power transfer in China since &to= english.pravda.ru/politics/2002/11/15/39562.html ' target=_blank> the Communist Party came into power in 1949. His resignation as chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) ended weeks of speculation over the power struggle between him and President Hu Jintao, and whether he would choose to hang on to power. Mr Jiang, 78, is replaced by Mr Hu, 61, who succeeded him as general secretary of the party in November 2002, and as President in March last year. Another member of the commission, General Xu Caihou, 61, was promoted to the post of vice-chairman, to fill the position vacated by Mr Hu. Significantly, Mr Jiang's protege, &to= english.pravda.ru/main/2001/09/27/16428.html ' target=_blank> Vice-President Zeng Qinghong , was not named to the commission, as was widely speculated. The commission was also expanded from eight to 11 members. The chiefs of the navy, air force and artillery corps were appointed to the commission, in a move which was seen as diluting the influence of the army. Jiang, who oversaw China's rapid economic development in the past decade, including the acceptance of capitalists in the communist party, was China's top ruler until 2002 - when he gave up his post to President Hu in a reshuffle designed to usher in a "fourth generation" of leaders. Yet Jiang, still regarded as the most powerful politician in China, had retained a firm grip on the Central Military Commission. From this position, he initiated a major modernizing of China's military, wielded authority on the most sensitive policies on Taiwan and North Korea, and met foreign officials such as US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice last June. A number of prominent American scholars argue that Jiang's half-in, half-out official status over the past two years has caused confusion and a "paralysis of policy," as Richard Baum of UCLA puts it, at upper echelons of power in Beijing. The emotional issue of Taiwan, for example, was made "more dangerous and uncertain" in Mr. Baum's view, due to a "lack of flexibility" among top leaders, informs the Christian Science Monitor.

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