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Wen says China `cannot' abolish death penalty

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said that China "cannot" abolish the death penalty due to the country's "national conditions," but outlined hoped for regulations on how the state imposes capital punishment.

"China is reforming its judicial system, including taking the right to review the death penalty to the Supreme People's Court," Wen told journalists at the close of the National People's Congress. "However, given our national conditions we cannot abolish the death penalty."

Wen further said that as "half the countries in the world" implement the death penalty, China had no reason to abolish capital punishment.

"What we are doing is to institute an effective system in China to insure prudence and justice in issuing the death penalty," Wen said.

According to international human rights organizations like Amnesty International, China executes more people each year than the rest of the world combined.

Wen also said that maintaining healthy and sustained growth of the world's fastest growing major economy is an uphill battle against entrenched structural and institutional obstacles.

"In the past couple of years we have been facing a battle ... in terms of economic development," Wen said.

"The problems we face in China's economy can be boiled down to structural problems, the [type] of growth pattern and institutional problems.

"All these deep rooted and underlying problems need time to be addressed," he said of the ongoing efforts to transform the economy from a Marxist centrally-planned model to one which is market-oriented.

The government was actively trying to adjust growth to a speed capable of creating jobs but not so fast that ongoing imbalances would become unsustainable, he said.

"A slow economic growth rate won't do because it will make it more difficult for us to create jobs, increase revenues and engage in more undertakings for society," Wen said.

Wen also heaped praise on former Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華), while pledging his successor will be selected in accordance with the territory's mini-constitution.

"In the past seven years, Mr. Tung has done tremendous and pioneering work for the implementation of the principle of one country, two systems, the Basic Law and maintaining prosperity and stability in Hong Kong," Wen said.

"I believe history will treat him fairly for his efforts and contributions," he said.

Wen said the selection process for Tung's successor would be based on laws, but gave no details.

"After Tung's resignation, the election of the new chief executive will proceed in strict accordance with the Basic Law and other laws in Hong Kong," Wen said.

Wen also sounded an optimistic note on Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong people's way of life also stayed the same," Wen said, defending Beijing's formula for governing the territory.

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