The Toad of Zhongnanhai

 

Like Toad of Toadhall, Jiang Zemin had a few flaws. Mr. Jiang enjoyed his power in the same way that Toad enjoyed having money. However, like Toad, Mr. Jiang had a certain heroic humanity and in an age of extreme nationalist competition, Mr. Jiang’s cooperative approach is sorely missed:

 

 Copyright – BBC

Jiang Zemin, China’s former President has just died. Mr. Jiang was the third major leader of the People’s Republic after Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping and he was China’s main leader during my last years at school and in national service.

China’s section of cyberspace has started coming up with a lot of memes. Ordinary Chinese citizens have been treating Mr. Jiang’s death as an end of a “Golden Age.” While Mr. Jiang was no saint (lets remember, this was the man who happily used the full weight of the Chinese state to crush a Tai-Chi club known as the Falun Gung Sect), he was had something that few world politicians have – he was wonderfully human. This is especially true when you compare him to his predecessors and successors. Mao and Deng had an almost God-Like status and they their political policies were considered religious messages. China’ current president, Xi Jingping aspires to be like that. Mr. Jiang was, by contrast, a more “human” character.

In a way, Mr. Jiang got lucky. He came to power right after the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989. China had experienced a bloody crack down and the Western multinationals, who were to play a role in China’s subsequent growth were frightened away. He was chosen partially because he was the least offensive to all the factions in the party. Yet, despite this fact, his era saw China’s economy boom, thus lifting millions out of poverty. He saw China into the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the peaceful handover of Hong Kong and Macau. Under Mr. Jiang, China had what one could call a “Virtus” relationship with the USA. China made and sold things to America and then subsequently leant money to America to continue buying Chinese goods. If Western leaders were “fooled” into believing a more prosperous China would make China more liberal, it was because of Mr. Jiang, who got on fabulously with then US President Bill Clinton and George W Bush.

So, how did a man whom everyone expected to be just another colourless bureaucrat achieve so many significant things? I believe that if you take a glance at Mr. Jiang, you could say that it was because he was wonderfully human:

One of the most important factors in his success, was the fact that Mr. Jiang was not intimidated by the competence of others. Perhaps it was because he knew that he didn’t have the charisma of Mao or Deng and that as such, his survival was dependent of getting results, that made him that way. As such, Mr. Jiang backed the blunt speaking Zhu Rongji as Prime Minister. Under Mr. Zhu, the army got of private business, over 40 million jobs in China’s notoriously bloated state sector were slashed and urban housing was privatized. China’s economy boomed, even during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. It was Mr. Zhu who flew to Washington to lobby the Clinton Administration into getting China into the WTO, and this was despite nationalist pressures to shun the West after the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was bombed during the Kosovo Campaign. Mr. Jiang was not afraid to back a competent subordinate and let the results speak for themselves. Compare that with the relationship between Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang. For Mr. Xi, it’s been about the ideology and Mr. Li, despite a reputation as a competent manager of the economy, was never allowed to do much.

Whilst Mr. Jiang was quite willing to crush any form of dissent that he believed would threaten his power, he had a sense of humour and was not above self-depreciation. His portly figure and oversized glasses gave him, according to Chinese netizens, an appearance of a toad and unlike his current successor, Mr. Jiang did not go to war against toads. Comparing Mr. Jiang to a toad became a token of affection. Comparing Mr. Xi to Winnie the Pooh could, well …….If anything, he appeared comfortable enough with the comparison.

 

 While Mr. Jiang was not exactly a liberal reformer in any sense of the word, he was willing to engage in dialogues and whilst his English was faltering, he was willing to engage in discussions in the language with the American media as can be seen in his famous interview with Mike Wallace:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tNMH2M_jJ0

 

 His openness with the press wasn’t limited to the American media. Mr. Jiang was willing to engage the press in Hong Kong, which under his watch had become Chinese Sovereign territory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GIj2BVJS2A

 

Mr. Jiang was undoubtedly as ruthless as any of his colleagues. He did crush dissent and all threats that the Chinese Communist party perceived. However, he did bring a certain openness and approachability to governing, which China had never experienced before. Given the current geopolitical tensions between China and the Western world, it might seem hard to remember that both China and the West did enjoy a workable relationship. Mr. Jiang deserves credit for getting the Chinese hand to clap in that relationship. In an increasing polarized world, Mr. Jiang’s conciliatory approach will be missed.