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Agenda Set for Party Congress Marking Chinese Transition Opening Meeting, China’s President Warns of Risks
(about 2 hours later)
BEIJING — With a robust defense of one-party rule and a vow to learn from a string of political scandals this year, a senior official on Wednesday laid out the agenda for China’s much-anticipated Communist Party Congress, which gets under way on Thursday. BEIJING — China’s Communist Party leader, Hu Jintao, defended his decade in power on Thursday and warned that the country faced stark challenges at home and abroad. He spoke at the start of a congress that will culminate in his retirement and the appointment of a new generation of leaders after a transition marked by scandal and anxiety about the party’s future.
The weeklong congress is expected to cap a long and at times fractious transition from the current leadership of Hu Jintao to his presumed successor, Xi Jinping. If all goes according to plan, Mr. Xi and half a dozen other top leaders will be presented to the public next Thursday. Mr. Hu told the ranks of party-picked delegates assembled in the Great Hall of the People that China faced a period of major change and “complicated domestic and international circumstances.” Seated near him was his presumed successor, Xi Jinping, who is all but certain to take over as party chief after the congress ends next week and to take the reins as state president next March.
Officially, the new team is to be selected in the coming week by the 2,280 delegates participating in this congress, the 18th in the party’s 91-year history. Delegates are also scheduled to discuss a work report that is to lay out in broad strokes the country’s future course over the next five years, and approve it along with a report on anticorruption measures. Mr. Xi has privately signaled that he is aware of increasingly urgent calls from economists, intellectuals and some party insiders for a new round of market liberalization and even measured political relaxation to cure what they see as a deepening economic and social malaise. Mr. Hu acknowledged the problems facing the party, including corruption, but avoided specific mention of the scandals that have blighted his final year in power.
In fact, much of what will go on during the congress has already been decided. The delegates are voted on by lower-ranking members but based on guidance provided by higher-ups, a process known as “democratic centralism.” So, too, the work and corruption reports, which will be discussed by the delegates but are not expected to be substantially altered before being approved. “Currently, the conditions of the world, the country and the party are continuing to undergo profound changes,” he said, reading from excerpts from his report to the party congress, which convenes every five years.
At a news conference on Wednesday, the congress’s spokesman and deputy head of Communist Party propaganda, Cai Mingzhao, defended this system as one that allows members to express their views in a controlled setting. “We are confronting unprecedented development opportunities and challenges,” he said, adding, “The gap between rich and poor is growing.”
“We must combine centralism on the basis of democracy, with democracy under centralized guidance so that we will create a political situation in the party in which we have both centralism and democracy, both discipline and freedom, both unity of will and personal ease of mind,” Mr. Cai said. While acknowledging that China’s wealth remains unbalanced among regions and unequally distributed, Mr. Hu also told the congress that his decade as top leader had brought robust economic growth and the makings of a “moderately prosperous society.”
He also said the Communist Party had earned the right to rule China. “Over the past five years, there have been major achievements in every aspect of work,” he said. “Reform and opening up have gained major advances, and the people’s standard of living has clearly risen.”
“The leading position of the Communist Party in China is a decision made by history and by the people,” Mr. Cai said. “Political system reform must suit China’s national reality.” Mr. Hu’s congress report is a major part of the public ceremony that accompanies China’s leadership transitions. But the real decisions about who will succeed him and his cohorts have been made in secretive negotiations involving senior officials and party elders.
Mr. Cai seemed to pour cold water on widespread reports that the party was planning to reform its internal elections, for example by having more candidates than slots for top bodies. That would allow delegates to vote out unpopular leaders. He said votes would be secret and some multicandidate elections would take place, but all would be “in accordance with the electoral method adopted by the congress.” In a show of unity, Mr. Hu earlier entered the cavernous assembly hall accompanied by the dominant party elder, former President Jiang Zemin, who shuffled gingerly to his seat. But party insiders have said Mr. Jiang, 86, played a major role in shaping the next leadership circle and also voiced frustration with the record of Mr. Hu and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.
That is not to say that the congress’s decisions are already widely known. Contrary to some observers’ predictions, Mr. Hu did not play down the founder of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong, whose revolutionary heritage sits increasingly awkwardly with urban middle-class wealth and values. Mr. Hu also repeatedly mentioned the phrases, “scientific development” and a “harmonious society,” which he has used to sum up his goals of a stable society under firm party control.
Still uncertain is who will be next to Mr. Xi when the top leadership is presented in a week. This group, known as the Politburo Standing Committee, essentially runs China. Officially, the new leadership team is to be selected in the coming week by the 2,280 delegates to this congress, the 18th in the party’s 91-year history. In fact, much of what will go on during the congress has already been decided. The delegates are voted on by lower-ranking members but based on guidance provided by higher-ups, a process known as “democratic centralism.”
According to plan, it will include Mr. Xi and Li Keqiang, who is expected to take over as head of the government bureaucracy next year. Both men are current members of the Standing Committee. Mr. Hu repeated vows of “political system reform” in his report to the congress. But officials have made clear that the party’s notions of political change do not embrace any idea of full-fledged electoral democracy.
It is also unclear how many members the committee will have. It currently has nine posts, and is expected to be reduced to seven. On the contrary, at a news conference on Wednesday, the congress’s spokesman and deputy head of Communist Party propaganda, Cai Mingzhao, defended China’s current system.
Pundits have been speculating on who the other members will be and what various appointments might mean for China’s direction. But even last week, new names and combinations were making the rounds in Beijing, indicating that party leaders and their various factions were still vying to put forward their candidates. “The leading position of the Communist Party in China is a decision made by history and by the people,” Mr. Cai said.
Mr. Cai also said the party had learned from the scandals surrounding two high-ranking officials: the former Politburo member Bo Xilai and the former railway minister Liu Zhijun. Both have been accused of corruption, although Mr. Bo is also accused of covering up the murder of a British businessman. “The lessons are profound,” said Mr. Cai, who added that the party would pursue strong anticorruption measures. Still uncertain is who will be standing next to Mr. Xi when the top leadership is presented in a week. This group, known as the Politburo’s Standing Committee, essentially runs China. According to plan, it will include Mr. Xi and Li Keqiang, who is expected to take over as head of the government bureaucracy next year. Both men are current members of the Standing Committee.
Mr. Cai also said the congress would pursue reforms and work on a “master reform plan on income distribution” to more equitably divide China’s growing economy. The country has one of the biggest gaps between rich and poor in the world, leading to frequent bouts of unrest and violence. It is also unclear how many members the committee will have. The current nine posts, and is expected to be cut to seven.
“In this way, we will make the fruits of reform and opening up benefit our people more and in a more equitable fashion,” Mr. Cai said.