Days after Xi Jinping cemented his power at the 19th Party Congress in Beijing, a former Australian prime minister recalls the first time he met the Chinese president in Canberra.
Speaking with BBC Radio on Friday, Kevin Rudd recalled an hours-long fireside chat at the Lodge, where Xi was the first global leader he had met who didn't use notes when speaking with other foreign dignitaries.
"He had everything at his fingertips. He was prepared not to just stick to the technical script ... but to range very broadly," Mr Rudd, who speaks Mandarin, said.
"His self-assurance on that score came from knowing how to navigate the hazardous internal shoals of Chinese politics."
President Xi's broad knowledge was matched by a deep sense of mission and awareness of China's 'century of humiliation' at the hands of foreign powers - a well-known term in China.
"So I think within that frame he has a sense that he is deeply associated with China's return to international greatness," Mr Rudd, who has returned to studies at Oxford University, said.
On Wednesday, President Xi delivered a speech over three hours long at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, held every five years.
However, it was the last party congress in 2012, that springboarded Xi Jinping to power.
President Xi's leadership since then, and his speech this week, focused on national prosperity, power and his articulation of the 'Chinese Dream.'
"His vision for China's future was not just about national wealth and national power. It was all about your individual prosperity as well as your ability to pursue your own futures," Mr Rudd said.
China needed to keep the peace with the 14 countries it shares a border with and create foreign policies that accommodate its interests.
"Then you begin to push out further, over time supplanting the United States as the principal strategic power in East Asia and the West Pacific," Mr Rudd said.
But the final part of the debate was just beginning.
"Which is how does China articulate its future role in global institutions?"
When it came to human rights in China - the country has received persistent criticism for its track record - Mr Rudd was blunt.
"If you're waiting for an Eleanor Roosevelt moment where finally the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights is realised in Chinese practice, don't hold your breath."
