COMMENTARY
Commentary: Party Congress and the Next Leap Forward
October 19, 2007
Christopher Bjorke, AFP

China's Communist leaders, as they meet this week for their party congress, are like a mountaineer who, upon achieving a great summit, looks up to see another higher peak ahead.

The accomplishments of the party so far are huge: Years of double-digit growth rates, rising per capita income, a swelling middle class and ascension to a place among the world's largest economies. Not bad for a Third World country that saw mass famine within living memory.

But the next challenges that China faces will be just as daunting as the ones it faced a generation ago. Most prominent among them are the need to halt further damage to the environment, protect the reputation of China's exports and reduce inequality by spreading newly created wealth across society-particularly in rural areas-while keeping economic growth on track.

In his opening address to the party congress, President Hu Jintao identified the country's central task as continuing economic growth with the goal of doubling per capita income and eliminating absolute poverty by 2020, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Michael Colopy, a China specialist, said that Hu will pursue more aggressive policies in directing investment to protect the party against external and especially internal pressures.

"The modus vivendi is powerful challenges to the party's legitimacy both from within the party and from outside the party," he said. "These challenges all invoke that part of China's population that has not received commensurate benefit from China's wealth and standing."

Balancing act

Hu's major tasks, according to Colopy, will be consolidating his power among the various factors within the party to carry forward his plans to deal with the pressures on the party. Part of this may be a stronger hand in directing China's commercial agenda.

"There will be new coordination, aggressive coordination with the finance organs of the government, with the central bank, the four major banks, the Ministry of Finance and so on, to assure consistency across all functions of government dealing with exports," he said. "There are going to be new restrictions on what foreigners can invest in at the same time that they're removing tariffs that foreigners have long objected to. This is the classic give with one hand, take with the other."

Colopy also expects that Beijing will play a larger role in coordinating political and commercial ties in other places, such as Africa, South America and other parts of Asia.

The bigger picture to frame the goals of the congress is that of pressures on the Communist party as China becomes a major player on the global scene. Among these, directing the benefits of the country's success is foremost.

"That's the single biggest one. Nothing else comes close," Colopy said. "Even if it's momentarily public relations and cosmetic approaches."

Commentary on developing China issues appears in every edition of China Headlines. Comments can be sent to Christoher Bjorke at cbjorke@chinaforum.com.

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