China: July 8, 2002

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The 76 year old president of China, Jiang Zemin, is supposed to be the first communist leader to voluntarily give up his senior posts according to new rules (fixed terms and retirement of officials older than 70). But there are signs that Jiang is backing off on this, and senior army officers have publicly supported him. This would indicate that the generals are looking for payback, which usually means a larger chunk of the national budget and less pressure to clean up economic corruption by military officers.