The political life of the People's Republic of China in the last decade is inextricably linked with the name of Jiang Zemin. After taking up the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in June 1989, Jiang Zemin soon took over the top military posts (in November 1989 - Chairman of the Central Military Council of the CPC and in March 1990 - Chairman of the Central Military Council of the PRC), and after being elected in March 1993. The official head of state also became the Chairman of the People's Republic of China. However, it was only after the death of the country's informal leader Deng Xiaoping in February 1997 that Jiang Zemin finally emerged from the shadow of the " architect of Chinese reforms "and fully claimed to be the" core of the third generation of Chinese leaders " (according to the official version adopted in the PRC, the first generation of leaders was headed by Mao Zedong, the second - by Deng Xiaoping). It is quite natural that since 1997, the solution of China's internal and external problems has been closely linked to the activities of Jiang Zemin, who actively sought to establish himself as a leading ideologist and theorist of the party, the initiator of a strategy for China's revival that meets modern requirements, and an influential international figure. Jiang's desire to quickly make a mark on history was also fueled by the very limitations of his leadership term. There is a general consensus in the country and in the world that in the near future the third generation of Chinese leaders should be replaced by a fourth one, led by Hu Jintao, who was allegedly recommended for this mission by Deng Xiaoping and his associates. This view was finally reinforced after Hu Jintao, who had been a member of the top party elite since 1992 as a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee, took up positions in the party and state central military councils in late 1999 (in fact, it ... Read more