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Jiang welcomes bourgeoisie to join the Communist Party

Policemen pick up leaflets thrown by two demonstrators outside the Great Hall of the People before the start of the 16th Party Congress in Beijing yesterday. PHOTO: REUTERS

China's President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) opened the Communist Party to the new capitalist rich yesterday to preserve its grip on power as he kicked off a congress at which his generation of leaders is due to retire.

Standing in front of a giant hammer and sickle in the Great Hall of the People, Jiang ruled out Western-style multi-party democracy and said the party would not abandon the peasants and workers who brought it to power in 1949.

But he told the 2,114 delegates the party had to adapt to wrenching economic changes that have created a demanding new middle class, put tens of millions out of work and opened a yawning income gap between cities and the countryside.

"We must move forward or we will fall behind," said Jiang, wearing a dark suit and red polka dot tie and flanked by China's top leaders, including the man expected to take his place as party chief next week, Vice President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).

The themes of the congress were to "keep pace with the times" and "build a well-off society in an all-round way," Jiang said in a speech outlining policy for the next five years.

"Whether we can persist in doing this bears on the future and destiny of the party and state," he said.

"It was quite a strong platform for carrying on economic reforms and continuing to broaden the support base and appeal of the party," one Western diplomat said of the speech.

"It was all framed at the start by the continuing of party rule and at the end by the importance of stability," the diplomat said.

The new leadership has been hammered out in extreme secrecy, underlining the sensitivity of what is supposed to be the first orderly transition of power in China.

Jiang gave no clues to who will be the chosen ones. They will only be known for sure when they emerge from behind a screen in the Great Hall a day after the congress ends on Nov. 14.

But in a break from precedent, he reviewed the 13 years since he took power after the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations ended in bloodshed and a leadership purge, rather than the usual five since the last congress.

"Jiang summing up 13 years of achievements shows he will step down from the party's number one position," said Wu Guoguang, a Chinese politics expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Jiang also did not read the entire speech, prompting speculation about his health among Chinese reporters.

"Standing there for three hours delivering a speech is taxing even for the young," said one.
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