Forbes contributor compares China's outgoing president with George Washington

"A great man"?

One wonders why Forbes magazine has chosen to be the "home" of fervent advocates of  two of the leading authoritarian and corrupt regimes in the world, Putin's Russia and Communist China? 

Mark Adomanis always seems to find a way to promote Vladimir Putin's mafia state, and now a "contributor" by the name of Ralph Benko compares China's outgoing leader with George Washington!:

A mark of progress is the immediate relinquishment of the role of commander-in-chief of the armed forces by outgoing leader Hu Jintao (in contrast to his predecessor, Jiang Zemin) and the investment of these powers in Xi.  As A. Greer Meisels noted in  “Power Transitions with Chinese Characteristics” inThe National Interest, “…with this move, Hu Jintao has guaranteed that this was the first clean transfer of power the CCP has seen in two decades. This is no small feat.”  This is an astute observation … and an understatement.

Hu’s act of remarkable humility bears a striking similarity to that of George Washington’s stepping down, after two terms, from a presidency he could have held for life.  It may be seen, in retrospect, as one of the most important political moments in modern Chinese — and world — history.  Voluntarily relinquishing power is a decisive move away from the Dynastic and toward humanitarian republican principles.  This act distinguishes Hu as a great man.

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China’s renaissance began with the restoration of sovereignty by Mao; continued with the generation of prosperity by Deng; was maintained by Jiang’s gamely defending China as a precariously intact nation; was furthered by the implementation by the great Hu of democratic reforms culminating with “the first clean transfer of power.”  Xi Jinping now is charged with helping China fulfill her destiny of regaining full dignity and stature, as a benevolent presence, in the councils of world leadership with cool-headed implementation of more democracy and priority embrace of human rights.

Read the entire article here

China's dissidents do not share Mr. Benko's naive view of the Chinese George Washington. This is what one of them, Yue Jie recently wrote in Foreign Policy:

With Hu's reign coming to an end, the Chinese people have realized that after Mao Zedong, no Chinese leader has been as hostile to the West as President Hu. Instead of launching political reforms, he tried to use the Chinese model of "crony capitalism" to compete with the Western democratic system. And the state of human rights in China took a huge step backward.