President Hu Jintao appeared with his predecessor Jiang Zemin on Sunday in a bid to unify the Communist Party in the wake of the Shanghai pension fund scandal, the South China Morning Post reported. In their first joint public appearance since the sacking of Shanghai party chief and Jiang protege Chen Liangyu, Hu and Jiang attended a gathering of officials and People's Liberation Army veterans at the Great Hall of the People to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Long March. "We should strengthen unity of the whole party and among the Chinese people of all ethnic groups," Hu told the 3,000 or so participants. Meanwhile more light has been shed on the sacking of National Bureau of Statistics chief Qiu Xiaohua. He is said to have received US$6.3 million for his lover from Zhu Junyi, former director of Shanghai's municipal labor and social security bureau, which managed the pension fund.