CHINA: Five-yearly Party Congress closes with Chinese Communist Party revising its Charter pushing social awareness and reshuffling its lineup

China's five-yearly Party Congress closes with old leaders, like Vice President Zeng Qinghong, moving to make way for successors. China's Communist Party Congress meets once every five years, with over 2,200 delegates arriving from across China. The event gives China's President Hu Jintao a chance to flex his political muscle, oust his political enemies and smooth the way forward for his chosen political successor. In a demonstration of intra-party democracy delegates vote for Standing Committee members from a list of candidates. The full members of the new Committee will in turn appoint a Politburo of a few dozen members and a Politburo Standing Committee, the innermost ring of power with possibly nine members. New members have not yet been announced. Xinhua News Agency has reported several prominent Central Committee members absent from the new line up of politicians, including China's Vice President Zeng Qinghong, aged 68. "The Party Constitution amended and adopted at the Congress embodies the achievements in the Party's theoretical innovation and progress in practice and major theoretical viewpoints, strategic thoughts and work arrangements defined in the political report to the congress and has set forth explicit requirements for upholding and improving the leadership of the Party and strengthening Party building. The congress has elected a new Central Committee to succeed the old one," Hu said on Sunday (October 21) during the closing session of the Congress. The new Party line-up also did not include Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan, in charge of industry, or Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan. Vice Premier Wu Yi, one of the few women in China's political elite and an experienced trade tsar -- was left off as well. In a series of votes in the assembly Hu Jintao's political doctrine, represented by political slogans, including 'harmonious society' and 'scientific concept of development' slogan were approved by the delegates to be written into the Party Charter. These slogans will join previous President's slogans such as Jiang Zemin's 'Three Represents' and enshrines his political legacy into Chinese Communist Party history alongside his predecessors Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin. "History will prove that the major policy decisions and arrangements the congress made and its important achievements are of vital strategic significance and will play an extremely important guiding role in comprehensively advancing the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the great new undertaking to build the Party," said Hu Jintao. That Hu has now been able to elevate his key ideas with many years still in office shows his growing clout, said analysts. Hu's predecessor, Jiang, took 13 years before he was able to push his trademark notions into the Party charter shortly before his retirement in 2002. Hu's 'scientific concept of development' attempts to temper China's rapid growth with a concern for environmental sustainability and economic equality, similarly his 'harmonious society' calls for more social awareness. Delegates leaving the Congress expressed their satisfaction for the week's proceedings, promising social development and caring for the people in the next few years. "This Congress paid more attention to people's livelihoods, and to more areas of ordinary people's lives," said one delegate, Miss Li. "There has been some breakthrough with the inner party democracy at this Congress. I believe the inner party democracy will get better and better, and will indeed lead the development of democracy all over the country," said Mr. Liu. The next five years will be Hu's chance to steer Chinese society in his chosen direction, and create his own chapter in Chinese history.

ITN Source | October 21, 2007

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