Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
Since the founding of communist China on Oct. 1, 1949, "China has undergone earthshaking changes and achieved world-stunning successes," Wen said.
Holiday
Today is National Day and kicks off a week-long holiday. Immediately following the break, CCP leaders will meet for their annual plenum Oct. 8-11 to approve an economic plan for the next five years.
The economy is booming, but the party is increasingly sensitive to calls within its ranks to do more to narrow China's rich-poor gap and stamp out corruption.
Increasing numbers of poor farmers are protesting widespread graft, industrial pollution, and seizures of land for development purposes.
Academics have warned that widening income disparities between the cities and countryside could threaten social stability. Rising unemployment poses a similar threat.
Problems
Wen only alluded to these problems in his brief speech, and he made no mention of democratic reforms or any changes to one-party rule.
"History has eloquently proved that socialism with Chinese characteristics, a road that we have been following all along, is the only right path that leads us forward," Wen said.
"We will firmly press ahead with economic restructuring," he said, adding that the goal is "achieving a sustained, rapid and sound economic development," he said.
China will also promote "the building of a harmonious society," he added, a reference to the need for all elements of society to get along, including the rich and poor and different ethnic minoritygroups.
Taiwan
He ruled out independence for Taiwan.
"Together with our Taiwan compatriots, we will promote the peaceful reunification of the motherland," he said.
On the Taiwan issue, Wen's speech was markedly different from last year when he urged the nation to fight against Taiwan independence forces and called the reunification of the island territory a "sacred goal."
"We will continue to follow the basic policy of peaceful reunification ..., firmly oppose and contain the separatist forces in Taiwan and unswervingly safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said last year.
"The sacred goal of complete national reunification must be achieved. It shall be achieved in the end," he said.
"We are convinced that under the leadership of the central committee of our party ... [China] will surely overcome all difficulties and obstacles and write a still more brilliant chapter in China's history," he said.
Reforms launched in the late 1970s have fueled decades of fast economic development that have transformed Chinese society.
But while city residents are buying their first cars and taking their first overseas vacations, farmers in the vast countryside still labor as they have done for centuries.
Security was tight in Beijing for the holiday. Police bomb squads were out in force, and human-rights groups said authorities have been expelling people with grievances from the capital to prevent disruptions, a common move during politically sensitive periods.
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