As China's leader, Xi Jinping shows the world a different face
Used to his stern predecessor, foreign leaders and businesspeople say country's president is charming easy-going and a natural politician
In his first year as China's face to the world, President Xi Jinping has attempted to establish himself as a more open-minded, easy-going and pragmatic leader than his stern predecessor, Hu Jintao.
Foreign leaders, thinkers and businesspeople who have met Xi since he became Communist Party general secretary last November describe him as courteous and affable, qualities they say give him an air of confidence and strength.
At the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in Bali last month, Xi was seen smiling warmly while chatting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
But Singapore's "founding father" Lee Kuan Yew, who has met Xi on several occasions, says he does not easily reveal his emotions. "He is reserved - not in the sense that he will not talk to you, but in the sense that he will not betray his likes and dislikes," Lee wrote in his recent book, Lee Kuan Yew: the Grand Master's Insights on China, the US and the World. "There is always a pleasant smile on his face, whether or not you have said something that annoyed him."
Former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton has described Xi as a more natural politician than the previous president.
"The new president appears to be a pragmatic leader," she told the Pacific Council on International Policy in May. "He's also much more of a politician than his predecessor, Hu Jintao.