President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao have turned over their power.// Getty Images

Both men are transferring their power to the next pair of leaders at the end of China’s 12-day National People’s Congress that started on March 5.

Hu and Wen stepped into power to directly combat the SARS epidemic that was largely covered up by the previous government under the conservative Jiang Zemin. Unlike Jiang, Hu and Wen sought out to bring a more accountable government to China and immediately issued safety measures to combat the epidemic.

Looking holistically at the past ten years, the pair have presided over big changes. China’s economy has quadrupled in the past ten years; it has invested heavily in public infrastructure projects like roads and railways; once-small cities now have millions of people and countless skyscrapers; and a higher standard of living has spread from big cities to the countryside. 

Here are the key issues that defined the Hu and Wen administration for better or worse.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Under the leadership of Hu and Wen, China's infrastructure has greatly developed. Specific accomplishments include:

• The completion of highways connecting cities across the country.
• The greater emphasis on developing tier 2 and 3 cities.
• The creation of high-speed trains connecting major cities and cross-country trains such as the Beijing-Lhasa rail.
• The completion of the Shanghai World Financial Building, the 3rd tallest building in the world.
• The opening of numerous massive international airports across the country. 

FACTORY SAFETY

A 2005 explosion at a chemical plant in Jilin poured pollution into the Songhua river and resulted in four million people losing water supplies for five days. The explosion started a push for greater safety measures with regards to China’s hundreds of thousands factories. Still, however, factory safety and pollution emissions continue to be a huge problem for China, a topic that has been fairly untouched under Hu and Wen's leadership.

PRODUCT SAFETY
 
There have been several incidents where Chinese products were tainted with poisonous substances and were demanded to be recalled or destroyed. Two incidents in particular highlighted this negligence.  In 2007, Mattel recalled 18 million toys that were made in China that were potentially toxic. In 2008, 300,000 children were poisoned, six infants died, and an estimated 54,000 babies were hospitalized because of melamine contamination in milk or infant formulas.

In response, both Hu and Wen did heavy apologizing to victims of the contamination. Meanwhile, China executed the health officials responsible for the formula contamination and dismissed their minister of the Department of Health. 

HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER

China continues to be the world’s largest user of coal power. The use of coal for the production of power continues to be one of the main reasons for horrible pollution across the nation.

The completion of the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei province provides electricity for nine provinces and two major cities. The dam itself is extremely controversial because of environmental reasons such as erosion, landslides, and the forced displacement of millions of surrounding villagers. 

"COMING OUT" MOMENTS

Both the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo can be titled as China’s emerging celebrations to the world. Both events brought a significant amount of development to both cities in infrastructure, transportation, public safety, food safety, environment, and more. This all improved the standards of living in both cities and welcomed millions of tourists.

ETHNIC MINORITY UPRISINGS

The People’s Republic of China comprises of 56 ethnic groups with the predominate Han Chinese group accounting for 91.59% of the population. While the majority of the ethnic groups are peaceful and have been part of China for hundreds of years, Tibet and Xinjiang, two provinces were acquired by military force, continue to show disconnect and disapproval of the Beijing government.

The 2008 Tibet unrest resulted in numerous riots, burnings, lootings, and killings that ultimately led to a crackdown in Tibet by the People’s Liberation Army and an implemented censorship by the government. Similar events occurred in 2009 in Xinjiang province when ethnic Muslim Uyghurs began targeting Han Chinese people. Military forces silenced the riots resulting in over 200 deaths and over 2,000 injuries. 

NATURAL DISASTERS

The 2008 Sichuan Earthquake was one of the biggest catastrophes to hit China this century. The earthquake was measured at 7.9 on the Richter scale and killed over 70,000 people. This natural disaster was responded to quickly by the PLA and rescue forces however a large controversy surrounded a hospital and elementary school that collapsed during the earthquake. 

EMERGING MARKET

The nations economy has quadrupled since the start of Hu and Wen’s regime. In 2010, China became the world’s largest car market. In 2011, China overtook Japan to become second largest economy.  This is largely due to a rapidly rising middle class and the availability and need for a vehicle increasing. 

TERRITORIAL CLAIMS

China continues to have territorial claims over the Diaoyu Fishing Islands off the coast of Taiwan. Japan, Taiwan, and China all claim property of the chain of islands. Disputes have been ongoing since after the end of WWII however in recent years they have been resurfaced after Chinese Naval forces performed exercises in the water. In 2012, the large fishing stock and the discovery of oil reserves are further reasons justifying China’s wanting of the islands. In September 2012, the Japanese government purchased the islands, prompting large-scale protests in China. This continues to be an ongoing problem. 

GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION

In 2012, Bo Xilai, the man that many Chinese politicians believed would become a member of the Politburo Standing Committee was found guilty in affiliation with the murder of British businessman, Neil Heywood. Bo Xilai’s wife, Gu Kailai, murdered Heywood in his hotel room and the incident was covered up by Bo’s top lieutenant and police chief. The surfacing of the murder dismissed Bo from all party positions and imprisoned him, sentenced Gu to death, and placed the police chief in prison. The issue brought the large issue of corruption to the surface as a continuing problem tainting the Chinese government. Both Hu and Wen stood in opposition of Bo and continue to protest government corruption. 

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The Chinese government has largely gone up and down during the tenure of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao. The country has many problems as it makes its transition from a third-world country to rapidly a first-world country. Along the way obstacles such as product failure, government corruption, ethnic minority uprisings, and more all continue to tarnish the communist government. 

However, it is already evident that China has emerged as a leader in this world. Being able to host world class events, being able to stand up to surrounding countries but also lend a hand to emerging countries, and being able to develop the nation all show that China is entering a new stage in its life.

For incoming President Xi Jingping and Premier Li Keqiang, they face no easy task. Addressing issues of government corruption, improving the safety and quality of Chinese products, the approval of ethnic minitories to ensure statewide approval, and continuing to hold a military dominance in the region will be the biggest goals for the next tenure.

With the beginning of a new decade of leadership, everyone (The United States especially) better hold on as China becomes the global leader. 

Reach Joseph Krassenstein here.