By Trefor Moss
The sun may be setting on Hu Jintao’s reign as the leader of Communist Party, but his career as commander-in-chief still has legs.
Duowei News reported this week (hat-tip to Sinocism) that Hu will hold onto his job as Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) for another two years, following the precedent set a decade earlier by Jiang Zemin (Deng Xiaoping also held onto his military brief after relinquishing his other formal roles). This is contrary to recent speculation that Hu may have been too weak politically to retain his military command.
In all likelihood, Jiang endorsed this practice in 2002 in order to preserve his own authority, and not just because he had identified managerial advantages in a phased handover. But this quirky system may indeed have its benefits. Xi Jinping has a million other things to do as he assumes the leadership of the Party. By remaining CMC Vice-Chairman until 2014 he can leave it to Hu to bed down the new military leadership, before assuming control of a more settled Commission when he has a moment to spare.
Read the full story at The Diplomat