Jiang was very pragmatic, and the world likely wouldn’t be in this mess if he was able to hold onto more power longer. However, Jiang was also extremely corrupt

Jiang was very pragmatic, and the world likely wouldn’t be in this mess if he was able to hold onto more power longer. However, Jiang was also extremely corrupt, and he wanted to hold onto power longer than the terms set by Deng. The man would constantly try to assassinate rivals like Hu and even Xi, which is what led to Xi’s ascension. Hu was much better, but he was also instrumental in Xi’s rise. Jiang’s Shanghai faction also took the lion’s share of funding, more of which could have gone to the inland provinces None of this would likely happen if China transitioned to a democracy.