These are testing times for Mr Xi Jinping, with Covid-19 ripping through the country. Dubbed the “Chairman of Everything” by Western analysts in a nod to his expansive influence over how China is run, the President could perhaps pick some cues from the predecessor who spotted him as a future leader – Mr Jiang Zemin.
Mr Jiang, who died in November, was China’s president for a decade starting in 1993. It was well known that as president, Mr Jiang had an often-testy relationship with then Premier Zhu Rongji, acclaimed as the “economic czar” of his nation.
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