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By the time Xi was appointed to lead the party in 2012, the corruption had reached its highest echelons. This terrified party elders who saw it as a grave threat, but also handed Xi an opportunity to pitch himself as a saviour. "I don't regret it, but I'm trying to navigate how to respond," she said. irannews.ru The graft ran deep. In Beijing, I remember going to a nightclub whose owner was reputed to have a ready supply of illicit drugs and attractive young women for those with enough money. His business partner was the public security bureau - the police. Many of them finished their tests early, she added - and nobody was caught cheating this year. What he does want is to be the most powerful leader China has ever had - and the Communist Party just handed him that victory. It was at this time - during a trade war between China and the EU over textile quotas - that I got a rare invitation to interview the commerce minister. Such interviews with top Chinese officials were excruciatingly dull, but this was the opposite. "A lot of people far away from the frontline are celebrating," one soldier tells us, who only wants to be known by his call sign "Gadfly".