Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who defied expectations by surviving in power after the death of his predecessor and mentor Deng Xiaoping in 1997, is quietly waging a battle to ensure his legacy survives his retirement....
As head of the party, Jiang will play a critical role in setting the next five-year agenda to be adopted at the party congress later this year and analysts expect his proposals to broaden the party to feature strongly.
To preserve that legacy, Jiang has been quietly promoting key allies -- many from his power base of Shanghai -- up the party hierarchy. But he risks upsetting provincial leaders already grumbling about the influence of a so-called Shanghai clique.
He is said to be backing protoge Zeng Qinghong, head of the Party's organisation office, for a slot on the powerful seven-man Politburo Standing Committee, and to favour Zeng over Hu Jintao, the man Deng chose as Jiang's successor.
"Jiang Zemin has a dilemma -- if he promotes too many people from Shanghai, he should prepare for a backlash," said Cheng Li, an expert in Chinese politics at Hamilton College in New York.
