Hu Jintao: China's silent ruler
The economic growth of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since the country undertook economic modernisation, and especially since it faced the near catastrophic events of the summer of 1989, has continued to fascinate the rest of the world. Learning from their experiences of the political storms that have destabilized and threatened to overthrow its rule, the core leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has transformed its outlook in a substantial way.
While the country underwent economic growth and modernisation under its leadership, the party has resisted even an idea of political change and has single-mindedly focused on retaining its control over the political power in the country. However, what has also happened in this period is that China has moved from being a weak country with strong leadership to being a strong country with a relatively weaker leadership. This process of transformation reached its pinnacle in the tenure of Hu Jintao’s leadership as China’s President and the Secretary of the CPC and Chair of the Central Military Commission. Kerry Brown’s book highlights the process of this transformation of the Chinese leadership in the period of Hu Jintao’s leadership. Brown’s book deconstructs, or attempts to deconstruct the enigma surrounding the Chinese President in six different chapters that deal with various aspects of Hu Jintao, from his early life to his rise as the highest leader, politics and internal affairs, China’s economy, China’s international relations under Hu, ideology and the final chapter discusses the Party.
This is not exactly a biographic work on Hu Jintao but it is a good text on the rise and times of the fourth generation of China’s political leadership headed by Hu. As the author writes, it is not easy writing about Hu Jintao. This is not only because he has chosen to say little that is radically new or groundbreaking, but also because he has kept an extremely low profile and has maintained a consensual style of leadership. In addition, his overt emphasis on consensus meant that his style of leadership was far less dramatic and ideologically driven unlike of those of his predecessors. Hu’s silence is especially noticeable because more was expected of him in terms of ideological or political guidance as the highest leader of the fastest rising power in contemporary international relations. When faced with issues, Hu chose to go back to the drawing board of the CPC and discuss issues with his colleagues and opted for quiet action instead of writing polemical essays that focused on contradictions. Therefore, says the author, there is also no ‘Hu Jintao thought’ or Collected Works that could be contributed to him as such. Due to this distinct Hu Jintao style of working or lack of it, much of this book is about the China around Hu Jintao than about the man himself. Whether or not this is a shortfall of the book can be left to the individual reader, but this contextualizes Hu Jintao’s rise and style quite effectively. For example, the section on his student years at Tsinghua University focuses on the chaos during the Cultural Revolution that brought about much instability amidst political excesses. Given the fact that Hu saw it from close quarters must have reaffirmed his belief in stability and harmony, especially as it mattered for the middle and lower sections of the society. The fall of outspoken ones during this period also seem to have influenced his focus on quietness and his choice of keeping away when controversies arose. Even if it suited him personally during his tenure as the highest leader of the country, the question remains whether his silence gave rise to much of the speculation that surrounds the elite politics in China. The author stops short of answering this question. Especially towards the latter part of his leadership where issues of misuse of political power came up, it must be asked whether China lost much time in the era of its silent ruler. Questions must also be raised whether consensus is a kind of sugarcoating for bargain where corruption is allowed to the extent that it can be kept out of the domestic and international attention. In other words, the opaqueness of the party functioning coupled with a silent ruler raises more questions as the contradictions in contemporary China become more visible. For example, while the leadership focused on wiping out corruption in recent times and the next generation leader Xi Jinping is hailed for his clean image, China has continued to ban an international media portal for its focus on the business linkages of those surrounding Xi Jinping. The author also is surprisingly silent on the factions within the CPC, a subject on which he has written elsewhere. Omission of such an important aspect of the politics in contemporary China, especially while dealing with its highest leader is a shortcoming of the book. However, this does not take away the strengths of this book in that it is a fine effort in showcasing the context of Hu Jintao’s leadership. After all, a leader is a product of his circumstances and so is Hu. While the book raises more questions that it answers, it is more to do with the silent leadership of Hu Jintao and in that sense the book does well to showcase China’s transition from a paramount leader to a consensus based leader.
Avinash Anil Godbole, Research Assistant, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi (avingodb@gmail.com)