HONG KONG -- Chinese President Hu Jintao's first overseas journey has served to reassure the international community that China's new leadership has a steady hand on the nation's helm and can be counted on as a constructive partner in such problem areas as terrorism, North Korea's nuclear ambitions and the situation in postwar Iraq.
China's new leader, as expected, did not embark on any new policy directions, sticking to positions that had been forged over the last 13 years by his predecessor, Jiang Zemin. However, Hu took pains to emphasize that there was now a new team in charge.
On several occasions, he went out of his way to assert his personal views as well as the position of the new leadership of which he is the head. For example, when meeting with President Jacques Chirac of France, Hu said "the new Chinese leadership attaches great importance to developing" an all round partnership with France, rather than saying that China attaches great importance to this.