Months before Communist Party chief Hu Jintao succeeded Jiang Zemin at the 16th party congress last year, the question often asked by people outside China was best summed up in the newspaper headline 'Who's Hu?' And as it emerged at the end of the party plenum that Mr Jiang would stay in the political limelight as head of the powerful Central Military Commission, more questions were raised about the style and approach of Mr Hu.
It was not until the end of the 10th National People's Congress last month that Premier Wen Jiabao expressed his thoughts on a wide range of issues, from his family, personal style, education and financial reform to the international media.
At a time when the Hu-Wen team should be concentrating on settling into their new jobs, the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) across the country is the last thing they need.
Judging from the unprecedented dismissals of the national health minister and Beijing's mayor on Sunday, it is apparent that the new leadership is determined to turn the crisis into opportunity.
Three days after the party's Politburo Standing Committee convened a meeting on the outbreak of Sars, the party announced on Sunday night that the Minister of Health, Zhang Wenkang, and the mayor of Beijing, Meng Xuenong, had been relieved of their party duties. The announcement was made hours after the health ministry confirmed that the number of Sars cases in Beijing was almost 10 times higher than had been previously reported.
Executive Vice-Minister of Health Gao Qiang admitted that the figures were higher, with more suspected cases expected to be confirmed in the days to come.
In a frank, no-nonsense admission, Mr Gao described the situation in Beijing as 'very serious' and said he would leave it to individuals to decide whether or not it was safe to visit the capital.
