Policy architect seized 'the challenge and opportunity'

Former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was a visionary who always saw the long-term potential of his reform and opening-up initiative, according to his interpreter.

Victor Gao, who worked for Deng in the 1980s, recalls him telling the then Japanese prime minister Masayoshi Ohira that Chinese people would have xiaokang (a comfortable living) by 2025.

"Deng used to look ahead like this. He used to think of the world in terms of the next 10 years, the end of the 20th century and the first quarter and then the middle of the 21st century. No politician in a Western democracy would think in these terms. That is not their business. They only care about the next election," he said.