China lifts curtain on the Politburo
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING - In the first official test of its zeal for political reform, the new Chinese leadership of President Hu Jintao broke modest ground by making the previously untouchable Politburo of the Communist Party accountable for its work - and approving constitutional amendments to reflect the changing fabric of Chinese society.
In a break from the long-established tradition of secrecy and speculation surrounding the dealings of the higher ranks of the Communist Party, Hu this week presided over his first annual meeting of the Central Committee since he became party chief, and announced beforehand what was on the agenda of the meeting.
However terse and short of specifics, the announcement on Chinese Central Television and Chinese National Radio represents a departure from the tight secrecy and absence of media coverage that has traditionally surrounded the annual meeting.
While no new developments were announced in the party's long-delayed agenda for political reform, some demure changes in the workings of the Politburo confirmed the new leadership's desire to show greater attention to public opinion and its cautious attempts to introduce a degree of accountability inside the party.
The ruling party's powerful 24-member Politburo submitted a report on its performance for scrutiny to the larger, policymaking 356-member Central Committee.
"Analysts here say it is the first time for the Politburo to report on its work to the Central Committee," noted the English-language China Daily on its front page.
The initiation of the reporting process is in line with Hu's changes of the party's working style.
Earlier this year, the Politburo scrapped the ritual summer meetings of party leaders at the Beidaihe beach resort. It is there that three generations of party leaders going back to communist China's founder Mao Zedong (1949-76) have gathered every summer to decide in secrecy on party policies.
In addition to presenting a more populist and less secretive image of the new leadership, Hu and his team have ordered state-run media to stop their ubiquitous coverage of leaders' farewell and welcome ceremonies, and devote more time to reporting social issues.
"All these changes of style are forced by the party's growing lack of support among ordinary people," noted a retired Communist Party cadre. "But there are other problems at hands they [the leaders] have time and again failed to resolve."
"China's task on reform has yet to be completed," the state-run Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary on Tuesday, adding that restructuring of government and its functions needed to be accelerated to confront the demands of entry into the World Trade Organization.
Among the issues that the plenum tackled are the obstacles hindering China's transition into a full-blown market economy, lagging reform of state-owned enterprises, overhaul of the weak banking system and the precarious state of the country's industrial rust belt in Manchuria, where millions of workers have lost their jobs as state factories have gone bankrupt.
Without resolving what the China Daily termed "deep-seated structural problems left over from the planned economy era", the new leadership would be at pains to achieve the 2020 aim of a reasonably well-off society, as defined by having a per capita income of US$3,000.
The annual plenary session of the Central Committee approved amendments to the 1982 constitution. Details of the two proposals were not released, but it is believed the amendments involve the protection of private property rights and the elevation of theories of former president Jiang Zemin into state ideology.
In his theory, called the "Three Represents", Jiang opened the doors of the Communist Party to private entrepreneurs, saying that the party should no longer just represent peasants and workers, but the most advanced elements of culture and production.
The approved proposals for constitutional changes will be now handed over to the National People's Congress (NPC), or China's parliament, which almost without exception rubber-stamps all party decisions during its annual March sessions.
After the changes to the Communist Party's constitution at last year's congress, public voices have been raised as to whether these will be adopted into national statutes. Legal experts have suggested that private property should be entrenched in the constitution as "inviolable".
The current constitution only stipulates that state assets are inviolable, but it indicates the state will protect civilians' legal incomes and belongings.
By far, constitutional amendments in China are initiated by the government, not by public opinion. In addition, there is a precedent for delaying constitutional reform after a change in government by at least two years. For instance, the administration of former premier Zhu Rongji was elected at China's legislature in 1997, but constitutional changes to support Zhu's reformist economic policies were not introduced until 1999.
But in line with its novel line of governing, Hu's team has moved ahead to amend the constitution despite other conservative opinions that the state charter should be revised as little as possible to ensure social and political stability.
Said Cai Dingjian, a senior researcher with the NPC, "We should not frequently revise the constitution, the basic law of the state, or it will lose its stability and authority."
The communique from the plenum, released on Tuesday night, hinted at the debate that has been raging inside the party: "The revision of the constitution should help consolidate the leadership of the party and the advantage of the socialist system," it said. All the revisions should uphold "Marxism, Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought", it added.
(Inter Press Service)
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