 |
|
Jiang Zemin hinted he would retire
|
BEIJING,
November 8 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - While indicating that his
influence would last beyond retirement, Chinese President Jiang Zemin
Friday, November 8, dropped clear hints of his intention to step down as
Communist Party chief.
In
a 90-minute address to 2,114 delegates assembled in Beijing for the
party's landmark 16th Congress, Jiang repeatedly gloried in achievements
made since he became head of the party in 1989, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
Jiang's
insistence on looking back at the 13-year period - rather than the past
five years, which is normal at party congresses - showed he is
considering his place in the history books, according to analysts.
"This
clearly indicates that Jiang will resign from his number one position as
General Secretary of the party," said Wu Guoguang, an analyst at
Chinese University of Hong Kong and a former aide to mainland
politicians.
The
Party Congress, which began Friday in Beijing's Great Hall of the
People, is widely seen as the most important gathering in China in more
than a decade.
Jiang,
76, is among a string of elderly leaders expected to step down from
their party posts at the Congress, setting off China's first major
leadership reshuffle since 1989.
Vice
President Hu Jintao, 17 years Jiang's junior, is tipped to take over as
party head and then become President next spring, ushering in a new
generation of leaders.
However,
there have been persistent reports that Jiang wants to keep some clout
even after stepping down, and his speech gave few indications of real
change.
"This
is not a departure speech. It does not constitute a transition," a
Western diplomat in Beijing told AFP.
Even
Jiang's one reference to the future - "We will surpass our
predecessors and future generations will certainly surpass us," he
said - sounded like little more than a general philosophical
observation.
Hong
Kong-based director of the French Centre for Research on Contemporary
China, Jean-Pierre Cabestan, said that Jiang "gave the
impression" he would retain a lot of clout.
"It's
a bit disturbing that the first smooth transfer of power (in communist
China) is afoot, but it is Jiang who is tracing the path to the
future," Cabestan said. "It's he who's taking stock and
setting out future perspectives."
As
Jiang's opening speech is regarded as a policy document, open
discussions of personnel changes were unlikely, some analysts said.
Rather,
Jiang used the opportunity to expound at great length on what he wants
to enshrine as his ideological legacy.
Collected
in the awkwardly-named theory of the "Three Represents", that
legacy aims at making the party more relevant for a 21st-century society
through radical measures such as allowing capitalists into Communist
ranks.
Jiang
first aired the idea of allowing in private entrepreneurs in a speech
marking the party's 80th anniversary on July 1 last year.
Friday's
speech - a document that has been in the making for months and
represents a rough consensus of elite opinion - seemed to reflect
persisting opposition within the rank and file to the idea, analysts
said.
"The
speech was more balanced than the July 1 speech," said Wu. "He
went a long way to suggest how important the workers and peasants
are."
Allowing
capitalists in will not in itself change the way politics is done in
China, analysts warned.
"The
most fundamental issue is not how you involve different individuals into
the party," said Ding Xueliang, a China-born social scientist at
the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
"The
key issue is how to produce regular, institutionalized channels for them
to speak on behalf of their social classes," he said.
China's
communists may not welcome dissenting voices, but allowing them could be
crucial to the party's long-term survival, Ding said.
During China's most important political meeting in a decade, Jiang
said China's rulers must free their minds "from the shackles of
outdated notions, practices and systems".
Jiang paid lip-service to the organization's official Marxist base but
urged the pursuit of market reforms, calling for a quadrupling of
China's economic strength by 2020.
"Reform and opening up are ways to make China powerful," said
Jiang, standing in front of a red backdrop emblazoned with a vast hammer
and sickle emblem.
Of particular note was Jiang's allusions to a key - and highly
controversial - reform due to be approved at the meeting: his own plan
for capitalists to join the party.
"We
should make a point of recruiting party members from among those in the
forefront of work and production," he said, using common party
shorthand for the country's wealthy entrepreneurs.
However,
he stressed that whatever the effects of economic liberalization, the
party elite should remain in firm control of China's 1.3 billion people.
"We
must uphold leadership by the (party) and consolidate and improve the
state system, a people's democratic dictatorship," he said in his
90-minute speech.
"We
should never copy any models of the political system of the West,"
he added.
Delegates
cheerfully confessed to having no clue as to the leadership wrangling,
but pledged to support whatever the party elite presented them with.
"Today,
President Jiang said the party would push forward democracy. This is
good and we will support this. No matter what the party leaders decide,
we will support," said Teng Jiuming from southwest China's
Chongqing Municipality.
In
a customary reference to Taiwan, Jiang refused to rule out the use of
force against the island China claims rule over, but said the threat was
aimed at "foreign forces" seeking to "interfere".
After
Jiang's speech, delegates met for a series of province-based
discussions, the public parts of which were largely devoted to praising
the president.
Despite
blanket security, at least one apparent protest was witnessed before the
Congress opened.
A
woman was roughly bundled into a car by police near the Great Hall of
the People after she hurled what appeared to be pamphlets in the air, an
AFP photographer reported.
