In China's Crisis Has A Political Edge: Leaders Use SARS to Challenge Recalcitrant Parts of Government, John Pomfret says,

The quick explosion of information that hit Beijing and other parts of China created the most significant challenge for China's new government and its political system in more than a decade. But it also created an opportunity for Wen and China's new president, Hu Jintao, who came to power on March 19. The two leaders have used the crisis to challenge the authority of parts of China's government, the military and the capital city's administration, ultimately challenging the authority of their predecessor, former president Jiang Zemin....For weeks, while the epidemic raged in Beijing, city authorities kept information about its scope from the central government, sources said. "It was as if an epidemic raged in Washington but was kept secret from the White House," said a Western ambassador. Henk Bekedam, the head of the World Health Organization office in Beijing, agreed. "The center really did not know," he said.

Beijing city officials had many allies in the central government willing to keep the news from Wen and Hu. For example, Jia Qinglin, former Beijing party secretary, is on the nine-member Standing Committee of the Politburo. Liu Qi, the current party secretary in Beijing, is on the Politburo.

"These men knew the extent of the problem, but they have a lot to lose, so they suppressed information," a Chinese government source said.

Health Minister Zhang Wenkang also was aware of what was happening in the city.

So did Jiang know about it, but Hu & Wen did not? And are they going to be able to use this to challenge him?