AGE: 65
OCCUPATION: Premier of the People's Republic of China
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 1
PRO: The personable Premier — often cited as a counterweight to chilly, distant President Hu Jintao — is facing his great PR challenge yet: the Olympics, and all surrounding hoopla, state-planned and otherwise. In that latter category: violent protests in Tibet. So far, Wen's taken a nuanced approach (by Chinese standards): he's even signaled a conditional willingness to meet the Dalai Lama.
CON: Efforts to blame the Dalai for the violence in Tibet have had mixed results. And this is just the beginning: other Olympics-stoked protests are in the offing...