President Jiang Zemin says he is not a dictator, but rather has a 'strong leadership' style, loves Shakespeare and drew spiritual support from Goethe's Faust after his controversial speech in July welcoming entrepreneurs into the Communist Party.
Mr Jiang admitted to the International Forum on China and the World in the 21st Century in Beijing on Monday that his speech on the party's 80th anniversary had met with 'strong reaction' and 'different opinions' but that this 'was normal', Wen Wei Po reported yesterday.
He said all important decisions were 'democratically' made by the seven members of the Politburo. 'Some in the media say I am a dictator. I say it is not true. I just have a strong leadership style,' the President said.
Mr Jiang said he had insisted 60 translators work on the English translation of his anniversary speech because of its worldwide impact.
On the substance of the speech, Mr Jiang insisted Marxism had to move with the times, saying Marx had never seen cars, planes or the Internet.
To draw spiritual support, Mr Jiang read Faust last month during the party's annual seaside Beidaihe meeting.