HU JINTAO

AGE: 64
OCCUPATION: President of the People's Republic of China
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 2

PRO: The chief of a vast, nuclear-armed economic powerhouse whose economy is growing at a blistering pace and is well on its way to becoming the primary global counterbalance to U.S. power.

CON: The inevitable democratization that accompanies such rapid economic growth is beginning to undermine the control of Hu's party. Growing economic disparity has also stoked public discontent, especially in rural areas. And although the Internet has made absolute censorship more difficult, Hu's regime still maintains a tight control on information.