Most Australians knew that if opposition leader Kevin Rudd was in a good mood, you could get him to say a few words in Chinese. But at a lunch in Sydney in September, he went way beyond party tricks. Welcoming Chinese President Hu Jintao, Rudd broke into fluent Mandarin. Prime Minister John Howard and Hu had just witnessed a $35 billion contract for Australia to supply natural gas to China. But it wasn't the historic deal that set news wires abuzz it was the image of Rudd upstaging Howard and impressing his guest. Next day, Hu invited the...
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