"Sinocism, a blog run by Beijing-based independent analyst Bill Bishop, first reported that Jiang had met with an unidentified US chief executive.
"Jiang’s appearance this week is a 'well-timed and calculated show of force' ahead of the party congress, Willy Wo-Lap Lam, an adjunct professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in an e-mail. * * * 'Jiang is telling Hu Jintao and other factions that he definitely wants and will have some say in the personnel arrangements in the 18th Congress'