1980-
1981-82
1983-
General Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee
Chairman of the CCP Central Committee
Chairman of the Central Commission for Guiding the Party Consolidation
Hu is Deng Xiaoping's chosen successor in the Party hierarchy. Their association dates back to at least 1949 when both were working in Sichuan, and Hu's position as Secretary of the Communist Youth League in the fifties and sixties meant that he must have worked closely with
Deng who was then General Secretary of the Party. In 1975 Hu was one of Deng's principal advisers and drafted the ''Outline report on the Chinese Academy of Sciences'' which was one of Deng's basic policy documents.
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Hu shared Deng's disgrace in 1976, and his meteroric rise since 1977 owes much to Deng's patronage. Appointed General Secretary of the Central Committee in February 1980, Hu was made responible for the day-to-
day work of the Party. It soon became clear the Deng was grooming Hu for the top Party position in the hope of ensuring the continuity of his policies after he himself had left the scene. Hu duly replaced Hua Guofer as Party Chairman in June 1981. However, his failure to replace Hua as Chairman of the Party's Military Commission (this post went to Deng) illustrates the fact that he does not enjoy the full confidence of the armed forces. Despite signs in 1984 that he was actively trying to build up support within the military, this remains a notable weakness and although he has held the senior Party post since 1981, and used it to promote his supporters to important positions, his ability to assume effective control after Deng's demise is still far from assured. Attempts to promote a statesman-like image have been confounded by his sometimes eccentric public behaviour as well as by a tendency to make public
statements which have subsequently to be corrected. He has the reputation of being one of the most liberal of the members of the
Politburo and this in itself might provoke opposition.
CONFIDENTIAL
/Hu