"Sinocism is the Presidential Daily Brief for China hands"- Evan Osnos, New Yorker Correspondent and National Book Award Winner
I heard from a friend I trust that Jiang Zemin had very recently met in Beijing with the CEO of a major US corporation. According to this person, Jiang looked healthy and seemed to make it clear that he was still very much involved in politics, including in the preparations for the 18th Party Congress. [UPDATE: I have confirmed this meeting with a second person. END UPDATE]
That same friend tells me that Jiang has actually met with several visiting foreign delegations recently. I have no way to confirm this, but I trust my friend implicitly and this person has no agenda on this issue.
Assuming the information is accurate, it appears that Jiang is employing the time-honored method of using foreigners to convey a domestic message. A healthy, involved Jiang Zemin would have a significant impact not only on 18th Party Congress planning but also on the handling of the Bo Xilai case. In fact, some overseas media have reported that Jiang, once considered a staunch supporter of Bo Xilai, has pushed for a very severe handling of the case. (See 江泽民力主推动薄熙来事件严肃处理_多维新闻网)
So far he has not appeared in any official media, which one might have expected given his stature, unless of course the powers controlling propaganda would prefer to keep this out of the news, at least for now. Then again, the people that matter in Beijing would know all about his activities.
Given that there have apparently been several meetings it is likely that this news, again assuming it is true, will break from the foreign side. What visting CEO or dignitary would not want to tell people that they had met with Jiang Zemin?
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Today’s China Readings April 20, 2012 | Sinocism
who are the people who set up such visits, and how does howard schultz know them?
Great question, wish I knew the answer. I believe Schultz had met with Jiang on at least one previous occasion, either here or in Seattle, and perhaps the timing of his visit was just fortuitous in terms of its utility for domestic political purposes.
Howard Schultz. What an absolute idiot. He just announced last week how profitable China is and now he meets the patron, Jiang, of a guy, Bo, who has, shall we say, a pretty bad human rights record. Maybe Howie’s trying to get half of China to boycott Starbucks.
The professional politicians are keeping their distance from China right now and idiot boy — like so many American CEOs — thinks he’s smarter.
Nice.