China's Communist Party called on its members to improve their ability to run the nation, warning in unusually self-critical language that some of its own leaders lack integrity and competence and that the party's "life and death" could hang in the balance.
The urgent tone of the appeal, in a report on Sunday by the party Central Committee, reflected the leadership's fear that rising anger at rampant corruption could undermine public acceptance of communist rule.
The report was issued after a party meeting this month that sealed President Hu Jintao's (
It acknowledged that corruption is "quite serious" despite a multi-year crackdown in which thousands of officials have been punished, and some executed.
The report called on party members to "develop a stronger sense of crisis" about reform, warning that communist rule "will not remain forever if the party does nothing to safeguard it," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted the report as saying.
The party's ability to govern has "a bearing on the success of China's socialist cause, the future and destiny of the Chinese nation [and] the life and death of the party," the report said.
It affirmed the party's commitment to capitalist-style reforms that have drastically raised Chinese living standards, saying it would "take economic development as the top priority."
After insisting for decades that it was infallible, the 68 million-member party has tried in recent years to mollify public frustration by talking openly about China's problems and its struggle with corruption and other failings.
But even by that standard, the statementwas sweeping in its criticism of party members.
"Some leading party members don't have a strong sense of responsibility, personal integrity, a down-to-earth style of work or a close connection with the general public," it said.
Some lack "the competence to deal with complicated problems," it said.
The sections of the 36-page report cited by Xinhua didn't say how the party would improve its ability to govern.
But Hu, party leader since 2002, has made increased responsiveness to public needs a key theme of his rule. He has called repeatedly for officials to master skills needed to manage wrenching social and economic change.
Many outsiders cite the communist monopoly on power as the root of many of China's entren-ched problems of corruption, official incompetence and enduring rural poverty.
Although Sunday's report called for expanded "socialist de-mocracy," it gave no indication the party was relenting in its opposition to multiparty democracy. Millions of Chinese are allowed to vote in nonpartisan elections for local officials, but the government stamps out any attempt to create a political opposition.
In a speech this month, Hu rejected Western-style politics, saying it would lead China into a "dead end."
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