Next Leader of China Steps on the International Stage

Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao, expected to become a successor to President Jiang Zemin at the 16th NPC this fall, arrived in Honolulu, making his first stop of his official visit to the U.S. for a week.

The other two members of `Next Big Threes,` Zeng Qinghong, Chief of Organization Department of the Communist Party of China, is on his visit to Japan for three days by now and Wen Jiabao, Vice Premier of State Council, is also planning to visit Japan from 7th next month.

Hu`s Visit to the U.S.: Chinese Vice-President Hu released a statement on arriving in Hawaii, which reads “the purpose of this visit to the U.S. is to carry out the agreement at the summit between Chinese President Jiang and U.S. President Bush on Feb. 21st. I hope that the China-U.S. relationship lasts forever.”

Vice President Hu will visit Washington, D.C. via New York to talk with U.S. President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and he will also stop by San Francisco on his way back.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported on 27th, “mystery man Hu Jintao is making his debut on the state of international diplomacy. The newspaper analyzed that the Hu`s visit to the U.S. is necessary but not without having a potential risk. He must show a hard line response to the issues related to Taiwan but still have to concern about the friendly relationship between China and the U.S. for the development of economy.

Professor Wu Shinbo (Pudan University in Shanhai) commented, “the point of this visit to the U.S. is how Vice President Hu is dealing with the difficult problems between the two nations, strengthening the friendship between the two nations without hurting the pride of Chinese people.”

Foreign Visits of Next Generation Big 3: Western diplomats think that the foreign visit of the next generation leaders of China is to make the emergence of the 4th generation leaders of China as an establish fact and to confirm it to the international world.

The group of visitors is large. Vice President Hu is accompanying 65 delegates including vice Foreign Minister and Organization Chief Zeng is also accompanying many high officials. A Hong Kong newspaper analyzed that “the foreign visit of the three will be an audition for them.”

Jong-Dae Ha orionha@donga.com