Communist Party Congress Opens in China

By JOSEPH KAHN
Published: October 15, 2007

BEIJING, Oct. 15 — Delivering the opening address at the ruling Communist Party’s 17th National Congress today, President Hu Jintao promised to address social fissures, a degraded environment and rampant corruption during his second term as China’s top leader, but he all but ruled out more than cosmetic political reform.

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Delegates have their picture taken in front of an image of Chinese President Hu Jintao at the opening session of the Communist Party's congress today.

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Greg Baker/Associated Press
President Hu Jintao of China opened the Communist Party congress today.
Mr. Hu spoke extensively about his “scientific view of development,” a set of lofty, vague principles supporting harmonious economic, social and political development.

The congress will enshrine the phrase “scientific view of development” into the party’s constitution alongside the political slogans of Mao, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin, elevating Mr. Hu into the pantheon of leaders as he begins the second and final term as party general secretary, head of state and military chief.

This speech kicked off the week-long event held once every five years to extol past leaders and welcome a roster of younger officials newly elevated to leadership roles.

Party members have described the succession contest, conducted in secret, as fractious. But the congress proceedings, which are purely ceremonial, present a facade of seamless unity and continuity.

In the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People, under a giant hammer and sickle, Mr. Hu appeared on a rostrum with all the other members of the Politburo Standing Committee and the Central Committee arranged in precise hierarchical order. They were joined by party elders including Mr. Jiang, Mr. Hu’s direct predecessor, and at least two stalwarts of an earlier era, Wan Li and Song Ping, both more than 90 years old.

In keeping with tradition, Mr. Hu’s address, which lasted two and half hours, stressed the correctness of the rhetoric and guiding philosophies of the past. Though the text of the address ran to 64 pages, Mr. Hu discussed few specific government programs and provided only broad hints about what he intends to do between now and 2012, when under party retirement rules he will make way for a new top leader.

“China is going through a wide-ranging and deep-going transformation,” Mr. Hu told the 2,200 party delegates and a national television audience. “This brings us unprecedented opportunities as well as unprecedented challenges. On the whole, the opportunities outweigh the challenges.”

Mr. Hu tweaked one well established goal, which was to quadruple the economic output of the year 2000 by 2020, saying that the party would now aim to increase “per capital GDP” four-fold in the same period.

The switch to a per capita target reflects Mr. Hu’s emphasis on enhancing the benefits that the Chinese people derive from economic growth. But given that China’s population will likely increase by about two hundred million during the 20-year period, the new goal suggests that Mr. Hu now expects the economy, which has sustained double-digit growth for more than five years, to expand at an even faster pace than he and his predecessors forecast at the last party congress in 2002.

He called the international situation favorable to China, saying a “trend toward a multipolar world is irreversible.” He offered to hold peace talks with Taiwan, the self-governing island China claims as its territory, as long as the island’s leadership sets aside independence goals. The offer broke no new ground, but his tone was slightly softer than in the past.

In defining his program of “scientific development,” Mr. Hu discussed the growing gap between rich and poor. He said the economy still relies too much on investment and not enough on consumption to drive growth. The leadership should do more to protect the environment, he said.

“We must adopt an enlightened approach to development that results in expanded production, a better life and sound ecological and environmental conditions,” he said. “We need to correctly handle the major relationships between urban and rural development, economic and social development, and man and nature.”

Mr. Hu repeatedly used the word democracy and said the party should become more responsive to the public. He also called for “intra-party democracy,” or allowing more party officials to participate in decision making.

He said corruption poses a threat to the party’s survival, a particularly resonant issue after the leadership purged former Shanghai Party boss Chen Liangyu in one of the highest-level corruption scandals in its history.

But Mr. Hu endorsed only incremental political change. He insisted on maintaining the party’s monopoly on power, saying that it must remain “the core” that “directs the overall situation and coordinates the efforts of all quarters.”

The proceedings got underway even as speculation mounted that the party elite was still negotiating membership in the new Politburo Standing Committee, the top governing body.

The leadership submitted a list of people slated for top posts to the party’s Central Committee last week, party officials who were told about the closed-door proceedings said.

The list called for a nine-man Standing Committee headed by Mr. Hu, with three current members retiring. Two younger leaders, Xi Jinping, 54, party boss of Shanghai, and Li Keqiang, 52, party secretary of Liaoning Province, are expected to join the Standing Committee and inherit the top jobs when Mr. Hu steps down, these people said.

But one of the current members expected to retire to make way for the younger officials, Vice President Zeng Qinghong, was over the weekend named secretary general of the congress’s secretariat, a position that historically signals inclusion in the Standing Committee for the coming term.

That suggests that Mr. Hu was either awarding an unusual perk to Mr. Zeng, or that the vice president, considered the second most powerful official in the party apparatus after Mr. Hu, may stay on for another term despite the fact that at 68 years old he is supposed to retire.

It also remained unclear whether the Central Committee, which will have the opportunity to vote on the leadership roster, will signal its disapproval for one or more senior leaders. While such dissenting votes are rare, low vote totals can force unpopular officials to step aside.

The final line-up will not be known for certain until Sunday, when the new Politburo Standing Committee makes its first joint public appearance to conclude the congress.