...reportedly defended the decision in a Central Politburo Standing Committee meeting. "If we hadn't been firm with these...preferences the three-man majority of the Politburo Standing Committee would have voted to persist in dialogue with...

...dominating the upper front page of virtually all of Beijing's newspapers. The party's inner sanctum, the Politburo Standing Committee, is stacked with Jiang allies, and Hu, like Jiang, will have to wait years to emerge from his predecessor's...