ABSTRACT
Hu Jintao succeeded Jiang Zemin to become the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at its 16th Party Congress in November 2002, ushering China into the so-called “Hu era.” He then assumed the presidency of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in March 2003 and chairmanship of the Central Military Commission (CMC) in March 2004, making him the most powerful person in China. Before Hu took office in 2002, he had maintained a very low profile, and although he was identified as Jiang’s successor at the center of China’s fourthgeneration leadership in the 1990s, he still was quitemysterious, little-known in the outside world. Many observers had speculated on Hu’s Taiwan policy and foreign policy before he became China’s paramount leader. Hu’s Taiwan policy should be quite clear following the completion of his first term in October 2007. This chapter will study Hu’s Taiwan policy against the background of a rising China.
