JIANG ZEMIN ALLY ZENG QINGHONG OUSTED

Few Chinese will regret the sacking of China’s vice-president Zeng Qinghong, the last major ally of former President Jiang Zemin, from the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

Under Jiang, wildcat capitalism and official corruption turned China into the most unequal country in the world. Reckless growth-at-all-costs destroyed the environment. While the super-exploited workforce slaved to make cheap goods for export, a construction frenzy turned Chinese cities into identikit forests of skyscrapers and peppered the countryside with luxury gated housing – to make way for which countless ordinary people were ruthlessly relocated.

Jiang’s also presided over a judicial reign of terror that permitted China’s ignorant judges, many barely older than schoolchildren, to impose the death penalty for virtually any offence. Thousands were shot, mainly the poor, desperate and excluded.

President Hu Jintao has steered China onto, certainly not a socialist, but a mildly social-democratic path. He has abolished the hated agricultural tax, pumped money into the countryside and has even begun to reign in the beserk judiciary.

It remains to be seen whether Hu’s policy shift will make any real difference. China’s economic juggernaut is firmly on the capitalist road. Yet most Chinese people, while understandably cynical about politics, seem to welcome the leadership’s change of emphasis. Hu is certainly more popular than his predecessor.