Cross-Strait relations talks had broken down. Chen Shui-bian was elected President of the ROC in 2000. Politically, Chen is strongly pro-Taiwan independence. Chen's repudiation of the 1992 Consensus combined with the PRC's insistence that the ROC agree to the "one China" principle for negotiations to occur prevented improvement in cross-strait relations. Hu Jintao became President of the PRC in 2003, though he was ruling "de facto" paramount leader as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since late 2002. Chen called for talks without any preconditions, repudiating the 1992 consensus while Hu continued to insist that talks can only proceed under
Hu Jintao four times (2008, 2007, 2005 and 2004) on the Time 100 annual list of most influential people. Political observers indicate that Hu distinguished himself from his predecessor in both domestic and foreign policy. Hu's political philosophy during his leadership is summarized by three slogans — a "Harmonious Socialist Society" domestically and "Peaceful Development" internationally, the former aided by the Scientific Development Concept, which seeks integrated sets of solutions to arrays of economic, environmental and social problems, and recognizes, in inner circles, a need for cautious and gradual political reforms. The Scientific Development doctrine has been written into the Communist Party