3RD LD: China's Jiang relinquishes last post of military chief

Asian Political News, Sept 27, 2004

BEIJING, Sept. 19 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING)

Chinese President Hu Jintao took over as chairman of the ruling Communist Party's Central Military Commission on Sunday, sending China's third Communist leader Jiang Zemin into retirement after 15 years of power, official media reported.

At the end of a four-day, closed-door annual plenum meeting that drew to a close Sunday afternoon, the party's 16th Central Committee accepted Jiang's resignation and appointed Hu to replace him, Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.

Jiang, 78, gave up the job of Communist Party chief to Hu in November 2002, and the presidency in March 2003.

The change completes Communist China's first peaceful transfer of power.

''The plenum unanimously agreed that (Hu's appointment) is conducive to upholding the fundamental principle and system of the Party's absolute leadership over the military, and is also conducive to strengthening of the military's revolutionization, modernization and regularization process,'' according to a communique from the plenum circulated via Xinhua.

According to the communique, the plenum said Jiang had made ''outstanding contributions'' to the party and the nation. One contribution was to ''found Jiang Zemin thought for national defense and army building,'' it said.

China Central TV also read a Sept. 1 letter from Jiang, who said he would always be a ''loyal party member'' and urged the party to ''grasp new opportunities'' and ''bury corruption.''

Chinese political observers expect little change after Jiang's retirement, which had been anticipated by overseas media and Internet forums over the past month. The move consummates a power shift that began at the party's 16th National People's Congress in 2002, when Hu was appointed party general secretary, but does not portend bigger changes, said Beijing author and politics professor Zhang Zuhua.

''I didn't predict it myself, but this news has been around a while,'' Zhang said. ''Right now things are totally stable. Given all the situations (in China), the pressure and motivation for political reform are high. If it's high enough, it will begin. If insufficient, the same policies will continue.''

Jiang quit, Zhang guessed, because he felt the military was secure under Hu.

Jiang, 78, had held the top military position since 1989. His term as head of the commission was to have run until 2007. Some overseas media report that Jiang's health is declining.

At 6:30 p.m. Beijing time, Chinese radio reported the retirement, and at 7 p.m. CCTV -- the main source of news for the public -- carried it. CCTV showed Jiang shaking hands with other party members at the plenum and speaking for a minute.

''I hope that everyone will work hard and keep advancing under the leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Hu Jintao as general secretary,'' Jiang said. ''I'm convinced that our party's cause will witness more and bigger victories.''

People should not expect any change in the political climate, because the new leadership has shown no such inclination, said Nicolas Becquelin, senior researcher with the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights in China.

''From our point of view any change in the leadership does not affect the main direction of the policies,'' Becquelin said. ''It has more to do with organization. We've seen a change of style but not a change of substance.

''It also can be noted that Hu and (Chinese Premier) Wen (Jiabao) have already demonstrated that they have not adopted a more lenient line toward political dissent,'' he said.

Ordinary Chinese people often prefer Hu to Jiang because of his youth and business background. ''Of course there will be a big change,'' said Zhu Sihao, a university law student and political activist in Beijing. ''Hu Jintao will more substantially put forth his own ideas. He's this way -- a scientific development official. He gave us signals last year.''

Jiang, born in Yangzhou of Jiangsu Province to an intellectual family, graduated from Shanghai Communications University in 1947, a year after joining the Communist Party. He spent a year in Moscow at Stalin Automobile Works and returned to China in 1956 to a career of running factories and research institutes.

After a transfer to Beijing, he led the Foreign Affairs Department of the First Ministry of Machine-Building Industry under the State Council.

Other political posts, mostly since 1980, included deputy director of the State Import and Export Administration and the State Foreign Investment Administration, minister of electronics industry and, most memorably to average Chinese people, mayor of Shanghai.

In 1989, he became general secretary of the Party Central Committee and Central Military Commission chairman. His term as president began in 1993.

His achievements over the past 15 years include a crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual movement, advancing the awkwardly titled ''Three Represents'' theory, which advocates that the party represent people of means as well as the poor, and for pushing economic reforms toward full-blown capitalism in line with changes initiated under his predecessor Deng Xiaoping. Jiang was instrumental in first allowing private entrepreneurs to join the party.