Political analysis of Chinese leadership
Jonathan Ansfield, Michael Wines, and Sharon LaFraniere, writing in The New York Times, offer an analysis of the politics within the Chinese elite. It probably is more than students need, but it's great for teacher background.China’s Premier Seeks Reforms and Relevance
China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, stood amid funerary wreaths in Wenzhou, near where a high-speed train accident claimed 40 lives late last month, and pledged an “open and transparent” government inquiry into the disaster. “The key,” he said, “is whether the people can get the truth.”
The next day, censors silenced the news media’s dogged reporting on railway negligence and corruption…
Such indignities are not new. As Mr. Wen enters the twilight of a decade as China’s third-ranked leader, he appears to be struggling to remain relevant in a political system that covets his benevolent public image but has little use for his ideas.
The leading spokesman for what passes for political liberalism in China, Mr. Wen is by most accounts ideologically isolated on the Communist Party’s nine-member Politburo standing committee. More than once, his views have been rebuffed, tacitly or openly, in party organs…
“Grandpa Wen,” who shares the common man’s pain and champions his interests, is easily China’s most popular politician. But internally, as Communist Party hard-liners strengthen their control, his advocacy of political reform has increasingly sapped his influence…
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Labels: China, leadership, politics
posted by Ken Wedding @ 7:41 AM
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