Wen Jiabao: the people's champion or a chameleon
To his supporters, Wen Jiabao has used his time as premier to fight for justice and equality; to his detractors he's been all talk and no action
Premier Wen Jiabao has been a controversial figure of the past decade, winning praise and criticism in equal measure.
When he was made premier and given custody of the world's largest developing economy a decade ago, Wen was seen as a cautious and skilful technocrat with an uncanny ability to adapt to fast-shifting political winds and maintain the trust of different Communist Party factions.
Now 71 and leaving office after two five-year terms, he has an image as the most outspoken state leader of his time, thanks to his calls for political reform. They have made him a lonely voice in the communist leadership, regardless of his sincerity.
In one his last major speeches, at a State Council executive meeting on January 23, Wen showed he was still willing to take risks, once again urging political reform to uphold democracy and the rule of law.
In the speech, published in the latest issue of the party magazine , Wen frankly summarised his cabinet's achievements and failures over the past decade, including mismanagement of the economy and stagnating institutional reform that has left the government without checks and balances.
Wen also used his last annual press conference, at the end of last year's session of the National People's Congress, to apologise for his mistakes, and he used his last cabinet meeting to acknowledge his frustration with the system and his failure to bring about any meaningful change.
