Sunday, March 13 2005 19:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: Chinese President and ruling Communist Party supremo, Hu Jintao, who promised never to tolerate "Taiwan independence", was today (Mar 13, 2005) appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the world's largest standing military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Hu was overwhelmingly elected Chairman of the State Central Military Commission (CMC), the top military organ of the Chinese Government, completing an orderly and smooth transition of power in the world's most populous nation.

Some 3,000 deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's Parliament, warmly applauded Hu's appointment at a special session held at the cavernous Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the penultimate day of the 10-day annual session of the Chinese Parliament.

Hu won an overwhelming 2,886 support votes in a ballot among 2,901 deputies attending today's session of the NPC, with six votes against and five members abstaining.

Hu, 62, succeeds former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, 78, who resigned as the Chairman of the State CMC on March 4. Jiang's request of resignation was accepted by the NPC on Tuesday, ending his political career.

Like Jiang, Hu does not have a military background.

Jiang has praised Hu as a "young and energetic" leader with "rich leading experience" and "excellent qualifications."

With this, Hu becomes all-powerful since he is Chinese President, General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chairman of the CMC, controlling Government, party and military, analysts noted.

The engineer-turned-politician had succeeded Jiang as the Chairman of the CMC of the CPC in September 2004. Jiang's surprise resignation had ensured a smooth transition of power from the 'third generation' of Chinese leaders to the 'fourth generation' headed by Hu.

The State CMC and the Party CMC posts are separate. However, they are held by the same person and the party post is considered key to power since the PLA plays a key role in Chinese politics.

Hu, who was the Communist Party secretary in Tibet from 1988-92, was elected Chinese President in March 2002. Hu had assumed the post of Vice Chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission in 1999 and was directly involved in the making of a series of major decisions regarding Army building.

Hu then succeeded Jiang as General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), a post relinquished by Jiang in November 2003.

In a speech last week prior to the opening of the NPC session, Hu set forth his four-point guidelines for cross-Straits relations, stating that the Chinese people will do their best to seek peaceful reunification of the motherland but will never tolerate "Taiwan independence".

The draft Anti-Secession Law, which the NPC session is expected to ratify through vote tomorrow, says China would use "non-peaceful means" to stop Taiwan's secession from China should all efforts for a peaceful reunification prove futile.

A native of Jixi in east China's Anhui Province, Hu graduated from the Water Conservancy Engineering Department of the prestigious Tsinghua University. With a university education, he holds the title as an engineer.