2007 The TIME TOP 100
Who are the people making a difference? TIME makes its annual picks of the 100 most influential men and women shaping our world.
Hu Jintao
By Robert B. Zoellick
I first met Hu Jintao during his visit to Washington in 2002, shortly before his ascension to the pinnacle posts in China. Although our meeting was brief, I was impressed by Hu's knowledge and intelligence, which he conveyed with confidence. I also noticed his disciplined caution, a restraint forged over years of careful preparation and promotion.
President Hu had been favored in 1992 by Deng Xiaoping to be paramount among China's "Fourth Generation" of leaders. Hu's rise through the party's Youth League gave him a network of influence that embodies his attributes of stewardship: loyalty; composed control; dutiful service, including as party secretary in two of China's poorest provinces; and close consultation to build consensus. Hu's vision has been to build a "harmonious society." He aims to overcome the great internal economic and social tensions that have been brought on in part by China's extraordinary growth.
Given this domestic challenge, Hu has sought a benign external environment. It is an irony, then, that China's economic success has created an external challenge that competes for Hu's attention. China is fast becoming a major influence in the world, prompting the question of whether China will be a "responsible stakeholder" in the international system. Hu, 64, has felt the need to explain plans for a "peaceful rise." At the Party Congress later this year, as he approaches the likely halfway point in his tenure, Hu will need to guide the critical promotions and assignments of China's senior personnel. His greatest legacy may turn out to be selecting the leadership that will continue his domestic strategy while moving more quickly to position China constructively in the world. The unanswered question is whether the approach to reforms will go beyond the material and social.
Zoellick was U.S. Trade Representative and Deputy Secretary of State. He is a vice chairman at Goldman Sachs
ascension to the pinnacle posts 登上权利顶峰
benign 有利的 良好的 =favorable
tenure 任期
Liu Qi
By Simon Elegant
On a recent bright spring Sunday morning, a line of Beijingers waiting at a bus stop noticed a distinguished visitor at the back of their queue. The bemused commuters found themselves being congratulated for their "civilized behavior" by none other than the city's senior politician, Beijing Communist Party Secretary Liu Qi. As head of the city's all-important Olympic Organizing Committee, Liu, 64, has designated the 11th day of every month from now until the Games begin on Aug. 8, 2008, as "Learn to Line Up Day." Liu's other crusades-against spitting, smelly taxis, fractured English and dirty toilets, among other things-are manifestations of the gargantuan task he has been charged with, which is no less than the physical and spiritual transformation of China's capital in time for the Games.
The gleaming new buildings, stadiums and public spaces are visible symbols of the $40 billion campaign Liu is leading to ensure that China's coming-out party goes off without a hitch. Much less visible are the headaches that Beijing would rather not have exposed. One example, pervasive corruption, has led to the arrest of Beijing's deputy mayor on charges of taking millions in bribes from contractors. Another is air pollution: Liu recently said he may order all industries in the Beijing area to stop production in order to guarantee a clean atmosphere for the Games. China's top leaders have repeatedly made it clear that they will settle for nothing less than a perfect Olympics. A little more than a year from now, the world will find out if Liu has pulled it off.
crusade 这里指消除社会不良风气或习惯的行动
gargantuan=enormous
gleam 闪光 闪烁
posted on 2007-05-04 12:53
lnnp 阅读(637)
评论(0) 编辑 收藏 所属分类:
2007 Time Top 100 
网摘收藏