Jiang Zemin

Jiang Zemin (1926- ), Chinese political leader, President of the People's Republic of China (1993-2003) and longest-serving General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) (1989-2002). Jiang was born in Yangzhou in Jiangsu province in 1926 and joined the CCP in 1946. The following year he graduated from the Electrical Engineering Department of Jiaotong University in Shanghai. Between 1950 and 1970 he occupied several industrial posts in Shanghai, Changchun, and Wuhan. In 1955 he worked as a trainee at the Stalin Automobile Plant in Moscow.

From 1971 Jiang moved to industrial ministries in Beijing. His career apparently suffered little both during the Cultural Revolution and in the purge of the Gang of Four and other radicals after the death of Mao Zedong. Between 1982 and 1985 he was vice-minister and then minister of the electronics ministry. Then he returned to Shanghai as deputy party secretary for the municipality (apparently his first senior post in party administration) and mayor. In 1988 he became first party secretary for Shanghai. A member of the Central Committee since 1982, he was elected to the Politburo in 1987.

It was the crisis over the Tiananmen Square Protest in Beijing in 1989 that propelled Jiang to the very top. In Beijing for most of the crisis, he impressed Deng Xiaoping with his contributions to the deliberations of party leaders over what should be done. It was Deng who arranged for him to replace Zhao Ziyang as general secretary of the CCP, although this made him Deng's third designated successor since 1982. After that he gradually moved to assume not only the highest party post, but also the presidency of the republic following the resignation of Yang Shangkun, and (since 1989 and 1990) the chairmanship of the party's and state's military affairs commissions—a combination of posts not achieved since Hua Guofeng, Mao's immediate successor. Jiang gradually became politically more assertive as Deng Xiaoping's powers waned. Noted for warnings about corruption in the party, he took the struggle against it to the highest level in spring 1995 by removing the first secretary of the Beijing municipal party apparatus and a member of the Politburo, Chen Xitong.

After Deng Xiaoping's death in February 1997, Jiang assumed his status as de facto leader of China as his designated successor. Jiang welcomed Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty in July 1997, promising that the former colony's capitalist system would be preserved. At the 15th congress of the CCP in September 1997, he was re-elected as general secretary and reaffirmed his control over the party leadership: his keynote speech to the congress focused on reform of China's ailing state-owned industries, as well as party corruption and the status of Taiwan. In October he visited the United States, marking a considerable improvement in Sino-American affairs since the events of 1989. At the convening of the ninth National People's Congress (NPC) in March 1998, he was re-elected president; at the same time, Li Peng was replaced as Chinese premier by Zhu Rongji, an authoritarian technocrat regarded as a partner or possible rival for the paramount leadership of China. In October 1999 Jiang made the first state visit to Britain by a Chinese leader; his two-week tour also included France, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, and Saudi Arabia.

In April 2000, in a continuing campaign to improve China's profile abroad, Jiang made the first ever visit to Israel by a Chinese head of state, as part of a tour during which he also visited Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and South Africa. The purpose of the visits was to aid Beijing's diplomatic fight to avoid UN human rights censure in Geneva and to press for Chinese admittance to the World Trade Organization (WTO). On a similar trip in early 2001, Jiang visited the Latin American nations of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Uruguay, and Venezuela. While in Cuba, Jiang signed agreements with President Fidel Castro approving US$4 million of Chinese loans to the country in return for its support of China’s bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games.

In March 2001, Jiang and the Chinese government became embroiled in a prolonged diplomatic crisis with the United States, following the mid-air collision of a US EP-3 spy plane and a Chinese F-8 fighter. The collision resulted in the emergency landing of the spy plane on the Chinese island of Hainan and the death of the Chinese pilot, and the crisis worsened when Jiang refused US demands for access to the crew and return of the aeroplane. The handback of the crew took place ten days later after Jiang had extracted an apology for the incident from US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

In December, Jiang spent several days in Myanmar on a visit aimed at strengthening ties, particularly strategic, between the two nations. The trip indicated the Chinese government’s support of Myanmar’s military regime, to which it is a major arms supplier. The following month it was widely reported internationally that bugging devices had been found in a US-manufactured Boeing-767 purchased 18 months previously as Jiang’s official jet. The incident came only weeks before a scheduled visit to Beijing by United States president George W. Bush in February 2002.

In recent years Jiang has introduced new innovations to the theory and practice of the CCP. The first, launched in February 2000, is the “theory” of the “three represents”, by which the CCP is seen to have always represented the development of advanced productive forces, advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of Chinese people. The second and more contentious innovation was approved in November 2002, permitting entrepreneurs and businessmen to be admitted into the party. Previously, this had not been allowed, although people could remain in the party if they subsequently became businessmen after joining. Observers believe this was the most historic decision of his leadership.

Jiang stepped down as leader of the CCP in November 2002, announcing Vice-President Hu Jintao as his replacement as general secretary of the Party. When Jiang’s presidential term expired four months later, Hu was appointed as his successor by the NPC and officially took office on March 15, 2003. The changes to the leadership of the party saw the retirement of a number of other senior members of the Politburo, including Zhu Rongji and Li Peng. As chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission—a position he retained following the transition of power—he remained in control of the national armed forces. He relinquished this, his last official post, to Hu Jintao in September 2004.