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China's leader stresses spreading wealth
2007-06-26
China must urgently tackle corruption and spread wealth more fairly among its 1.3 billion people, but political reform will be gradual and only under continued one-party communist rule, President Hu Jintao said. In a major speech laying out his future agenda, Hu told Communist Party leaders they must meet a 2020 target for achieving a "basically well-off society," a key motif of his nearly five years as head of state and party chairman. "This is where the interests of all the nation's ethnic groups lie and this is what we must strive for unremittingly," Hu said in his address Monday at the Central Party School. The event was closed to foreign journalists but a summary was carried Tuesday on the front page of the party mouthpiece People's Daily and other official newspapers. In a conspicuous show of unity, the speech was attended by the full membership of the party's Central Committee, leaders of the military and security services, representatives of all cities, provinces and regions and the heads of top government organizations. Those leaders will gather again this fall for the party's 17th national congress, held once every five years, at which Hu is expected to install allies, push rivals aside and lay out priorities for a second half-decade in power. Hu's comments underscore the ouster of a number of prominent officials in corruption scandals over the past year, in some cases removing political foes and allowing Hu to further consolidate power. Party cadres must put the fight against graft in an "even more prominent position," Hu said. "Party committees at all levels must fully recognize the long-term nature, difficulty, and complexity of the struggle against corruption," he said. Yet Hu, no bold reformist, touched only briefly on political liberalization, saying that more channels should be opened for participation, while ensuring the continuation of one-party rule. The Communist Party boasts 70 million members and has ruled China since seizing power in a 1949 revolution. "The reform of our nation's political system must maintain a correct political direction, must unrelentingly keep pace with economic and social development, and must endeavor to unceasingly adjust to the active political participation of our nation's people," Hu said. "Insist on the party's leadership, governance by the people, and ruling the nation by laws," he said. "Unceasingly advance the self-perfection and development of the socialist political system." Hu and fellow leaders have sought to shore up public support by promoting improved social services, environmental protection and greater social equity after three decades of reforms that have left behind many Chinese behind. Rapid economic growth must continue, but should also bring higher value, protect the environment, and benefit "the basic interests of the broadest masses," Hu said. Hu said the party should focus on key concerns such as education and employment, along with the construction of a social security net and basic health care system for the roughly 800 million rural residents whose social services have long been neglected.
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