When Hu Jintao became General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in November 2002 and President of China a few months later, the little-known 59-year-old was seen as the man who would usher in a more liberal era. As the first president to have joined the party after the 1949 Communist takeover, Hu would be different from the aged men who sent tanks into Tiananmen Square in 1989 to crush pro-democracy demonstrators.
Three years on, dreams of a more democratic China have been dashed by the enigmatic and withdrawn Hu.
See also “China: the true costs of success” from the Independent.
