Hu Calls For Reforms In China
In Speech, President Urges Broader Political Participation
By John Pomfret
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, October 2, 2003; Page A18
HONG KONG, Oct. 1 -- Chinese President Hu Jintao has made his most significant call yet for the
reform of China's political system and the expansion of people's participation in politics, the official
New China News Agency reported today.
In a speech delivered Tuesday to the Communist Party Central Committee and made public today, Hu
called for "efforts to expand" the orderly participation of citizens in political affairs and "guarantee the
people's rights to carry out democratic elections, decision making, management and supervision
according to law," the news agency said. Hu also called for the "active and steady promotion of
political system reform" and stressed the importance of "socialist political ethics."
Hu's speech was the latest in a series of signs from China's new president and Communist Party chief
that he intends to tolerate limited experiments to open up China's political system.
Although Hu, a hydrologist by training, is not expected to push for comprehensive democratic reforms,
he does appear committed to tinkering with China's communist system to make it more efficient and
improve governance. To that end, Hu and his main ally, Premier Wen Jiabao, recently have pushed
through a series of legal changes designed to make life easier for citizens.
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