China's President Hu urges growth and stability
BEIJING (Reuters) - China must focus on economic growth and social stability in the face of a global slump, President Hu Jintao said on Thursday, vowing a stronger state role in steering market reforms.
In a speech celebrating 30 years of reform policies that have ushered in a stronger economy and rising expectations at all levels of society, Hu tried to deliver reassurance that government efforts to counter the economic crisis were working.
He also warned the Communist Party not to be complacent, saying its political status as ruling party was not a given, but Hu ruled out embracing Western-style democracy in a sign the Party was not about to hold elections anytime soon.
"We must deeply recognise that the Party's advanced nature and ruling party status are not ... unalterable," Hu said.
Hu also renewed his promise to create a more equal and "harmonious society" as the country frets over rising unemployment and spreading discontent. After five straight years of double-digit growth, China is headed for single-digit expansion this year and a sharper slowdown next year.
Pride of place in Hu's address to ranks of officials in the cavernous Great Hall of the People was the insistent message that growth and Party control came before all else.
"Only development makes hard sense," Hu said more than once, reviving a slogan the late reformist leader Deng Xiaoping used to spur on investment and spending.
"Making economic development the focus is the key to national rejuvenation and it is the fundamental imperative for our Party and our country achieving prosperity and development and enduring peace and stability."
Hu's speech celebrated China's success since 1978, when a Party leadership meeting agreed to focus on economic development after decades of turmoil and isolation under Mao Zedong.
But the keynote address was also a peptalk.
Hu said China had "achieved positive results in responding to the international financial crisis" and that the country needed to continue its difficult balance of market reforms and top-down political control.
"We must earnestly implement various measures to further boost domestic demand and promote economic growth, properly address the global financial crisis and other risks from the international economic world and do our best to keep relatively fast and stable growth," Hu said.
China is worried that the thousands of factories shutting or laying off workers, especially along the export-dependent coast, could lead to unrest if the unemployed hit the streets.
NO TO WESTERN POLITICAL SYSTEM
While stressing that officials must back market reforms and the private economy, Hu dwelt on the need for greater state control. China must "focus on strengthening and improving the state's macro-economic controls and overcoming certain shortcomings in the market itself," he said. Continued...
Delayed spacewalk ends successfully.