Foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration American opposition to the government of Myanmar at the time. Relations with India improved significantly during George W. Bush's tenure. In September 2001, President Bush removed sanctions which had been imposed in May 1998, after the Pokhran-II nuclear tests. Both his Indian contemporaries, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh visited the United States at various times. President Bush called Chinese President Hu Jintao March 26, 2008 to express his concern about China's crackdown on protesters in Tibet since March 10, 2008. Bush and Hu also discussed issues including Taiwan, North Korea's denuclearization and Myanmar. Relations with New Zealand under the
Zeng Qinghong Ju, Li Changchun, Luo Gan, and Zeng himself, were linked to Jiang's "Shanghai Clique" and considered his allies. As Jiang Zemin reached the end of his term, observers speculated that Jiang may well have preferred Zeng Qinghong over Hu Jintao as his successor. But Hu prevailed in succeeding Jiang, ostensibly because Hu was 'handpicked' by former leader Deng Xiaoping. Zeng became Vice-President in March 2003 at the National People's Congress held that year. During the SARS outbreak, Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao took very strong and assertive action while Zeng and other Jiang loyalists receded to the background. Zeng was