Tomorrow’s New York Times has a helpful and comprehensive summary of goings-on during day one of the 17th Communist Party Congress in Beijing. Among the highlights of Hu Jintao’s two and a half hour speech:
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.
In defining “scientific development,” Mr. Hu discussed the growing gap between rich and poor. He said the economy relies too much on investment and not enough on consumption, and that the leadership should do more to protect the environment.
“We must adopt an enlightened approach to development that results in expanded production, a better life and sound ecological and environmental conditions,” he said.
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.
Corruption, he said, poses a threat to the party’s survival, a particularly resonant issue after the leadership purged the former Shanghai Party boss, Chen Liangyu, in one of the highest-level corruption scandals in its history.
