Q&A: what happens at the Congress?

President Hu Jintao promised yesterday to narrow the widening gulf between rich and poor and to improve the lot of tens of millions left behind by China’s economic growth.

Addressing a pivotal gathering of the party faithful, Mr Hu made clear that the Chinese Communist Party was not ready for wider democracy but told its 73 million members to remember that the happiness of the people was their priority.

“Power must be exercised in the sunshine to ensure that it is exercised correctly,” he said.

The speech, at the opening of the 17th Party Congress, gave Mr Hu a public platform to outline his policy priorities at the halfway stage of his rule. The week-long congress, set to confirm him in office for another five years, will prove an important test of his political strength and of whether he has the clout to promote his pro-tégés into position to succeed him.

In his 2½hour address, Mr Hu offered a little something for everyone, from promises to stimulate culture to a vow to modernise the military. He also sounded a rare conciliatory note on Taiwan, omitting an almost statutory vow to use force if necessary to recover the island The leitmotiv of his speech was his signature policy – a drive to help China’s poor. The number of dollar billionaires in China is second only to those in the United States but tens of millions of Chinese still live on less than a dollar a day. Standing at a podium that was decked with pink lilies, under a huge hammer-and-sickle emblem, Mr Hu said that the price of becoming the world’s fourth-biggest economy was environmental devastation and social splintering.

“Contemporary China is going through a wideranging and deep transformation. This brings us unprecedented opportunities as well as unprecedented challenges . . . There are still a considerable number of impoverished and low-income people in both urban and rural areas, and it has become more difficult to accommodate the interests of all sides.”

The cautious Mr Hu offered few concrete initiatives but did set himself an ambitious target of quadrupling the growth of GDP per person – not just overall output – by 2020.

He admitted that the party had fallen short and did not shirk from mentioning what many, both within and without, regard as China’s most pressing problem – corruption. The party had to be prepared to fight an arduous battle, he told the delegates. “Resolutely punishing and effectively preventing corruption bears on the popular support for the party and on its very survival.” He did not name Chen Liangyu, who was expelled from the party last week over alleged corruption. The fall of the most powerful man in Shanghai, one of Mr Hu’s foremost political rivals, reflected the President’s growing strength.

Mr Hu’s most crucial test will come at the end of the congress when the new lineup of the Politburo Standing Committee will show whether he was successful in anointing a potential heir or was forced into a compromise. In a sign of possible constraints, Jiang Zemin, his predecessor, was appointed to the committee handling congress arrangements and took a seat at Mr Hu’s side on the main stage in the Great Hall of the People.

Deliberations on the fifth generation of leaders, which began months ago, will end this week behind closed doors. The presence on the top dais of dozens of party elders - totems of different interest groups – was evidence of behind-the-scenes rivalry. Some even opted to wear Mao suits as a sign of their ideological leanings.

Mr Hu’s impassive demeanour gave no hint about those secret clashes over who will be the next leader. “We must always put the people first,” he said, and then concluded by urging his comrades to hold high the great banner of socialism. “Write a new chapter in the happy life for the people!”

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