When the leader of the world's most populous country speaks, people listen--though it isn't always easy. Jiang Zemin, President of China, gives speeches loaded with fusty rhetoric, like "the primary stage of socialism" and "We will strive unswervingly to resolutely uphold Deng Xiaoping thought." His slicked-back hair, enormous spectacles and cryogenically fixed smile smack of the old-fashioned apparatchik. So wooden a leader is often in danger of being upstaged by his own podium.
Appearances can be misleading. When Senator Dianne Feinstein was mayor of San Francisco, she gave a dinner at her home for Jiang, then mayor of sister city Shanghai....
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
