BEIJING: Chinese President Hu Jintao will go down in the history of communist China as the first leader to relinquish all levers of political power simultaneously. And in so doing, he has made a significant contribution to political progress in his country.

At the just-concluded 18th congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Hu broke with tradition when he decided to give up not only the posts of CCP general secretary and state president, but also the most important one as chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC). The CMC chief is China's de facto No 1, whether or not he holds any other position.

Indeed, Hu has set a precedent.

First-generation leader Mao Zedong held on to the CMC post until his death in 1976. Second-generation leader Deng Xiaoping, who gave up all party roles in 1987, was CMC chief until he ordered troops to crack down on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in June 1989.

Jiang Zemin, who succeeded Deng, did likewise by keeping the CMC post after he handed the party reins to Hu in 2002. But he was eventually forced to step down in 2004 after opposition grew too strong. An article in a state-run newspaper that was highly critical of Chinese soprano Song Zuying, whose patron is Jiang, was seen by many to be a veiled attack on him instead.

Whoever is head of the CMC wields immense power as it allows him to pull the strings from behind the scenes, albeit with tragic results in some instances.

The June 4, 1989, Tiananmen crackdown was a classic example. Deng did not agree with then CCP chief Zhao Ziyang's conciliatory approach towards student protesters and instead ordered the brutal suppression of the demonstrations.

During the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Hu, as CMC chief, encountered difficulty mobilising soldiers to the disaster areas because it was later revealed that Jiang was continuing to call the shots behind the scenes. The absurdity of the situation came to light only in December that year when then Chief of General Staff Chen Bingde revealed in an article in the army newspaper that there were actually two chains of command in the military and that one of them led to Jiang.

So what Hu has done, in effect, is take the first step towards abolishing de facto "rule by party elders". This is an important contribution that he has made to rationalise power succession in China, which hopefully would become more transparent and predictable.

It is said that he stressed two points at the end of the 18th party congress. Firstly, all retiring leaders henceforth should not interfere in the new leader's running of state affairs. Secondly, no one, including the CMC head, should find excuses to extend his term but should retire when his time is up.

By removing the undue influence of retired party leaders, Hu could be giving China's new leader, Xi Jinping, a fresh impetus and the space to launch full-scale political reforms.

By retiring completely, Hu has removed an institutional hindrance for his successor.

It remains to be seen whether Xi will take the next bold step to revamp the Communist Party.

By arrangement with The Straits Times/ANN