Foreign Press: 16th CPC Congress Full of Activity

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 08, 2002

Foreign Press: 16th CPC Congress Full of Activity

The 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, opening Friday to next Thursday, is a focus of worldwide press. Following is a collection of excerpts:

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The 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, opening Friday to next Thursday, is a focus of worldwide press. Following is a collection of excerpts:

The Associated Press gave a vivid description of the venue of the congress in its report. It said the Great Hall (of the People) ia full of activity. Delegates arrived in caravans of tour buses, including large groups of military officers in full winter uniform. Many Minority delegates, including Tibetans and Mongolians, wore ethnic garb and drank piping-hot cups of tea.

Jiang said China would try to quadruple its gross domestic product between 2000 and 2020 and increase its international competitiveness ``markedly.'' Under Deng and Jiang, China has pursued a ``socialist market economy'' to modernize and develop. Major increases in urbanization will help fuel the growth, AP quoted Jiang as saying.

Response to Jiang's speech was enthusiastic, the AP report said. ``This was almost a new manifesto for the Communist Party of China,'' said Liu Xuepu, a delegate from Chongqing. ``It has given us great hope as we face the challenges.''

The Washington Post,a renowned US newspaper, said that President Jiang Zemin opened an important congress of the Chinese Communist Party by cementing the party's shift away from China's dispossessed, which is disappearing in China, toward it's a growing middle class.

The report said that it is wise to invite private businessmen into the party's ranks, and mete out policies to better protect the private property.

Describing private entrepreneurs as builders of socialism with Chinese characteristics on par with Chinese workers and farmers, Jiang said: "We need to respect and protect all work that is good for the people and society. . . . All investors at home or from overseas should be encouraged to carry out business activities in China's development."

The report says that private entrepreneurs operate the most dynamic sector of China's economy, pay an increasing percentage of taxes and, more important, have begun to employ more and more people. This is a key to stability in a country that needs to add 8 million jobs a year.

Another influential US newspaper, the New York Times, said that the new Party Congress will set political and economic direction for China in the years to come.

It said that he congress will last a week, with delegates voting in the new Central Committee and adopting the main Party's policy report, approving revisions in the party charter and a report on the battle against corruption.

Another big US newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, reported that President Jiang Zemin called on the Chinese Communist Party to keep in step with the times and to welcome entrepreneurs into the party's fold. In a country where the private sector now accounts for more than a third of the economy, Jiang acknowledged the need to "bring new forces to the great cause" of rejuvenating China, including the self-employed and private-business owners, the newspaper reported.

"We should unite with the people of all social strata who help to make the motherland prosperous and strong," he was quoted as saying.

The newspaper reported that the Party congress is expected to write the "Three Represents" into the Party's Charter next week, as a guiding principle for China's development in the new century.

The Reuters said in its report that China's Communist Party will attract more people from the private sector to its team. It quoted Jiang as saying: "We should admit into the party advanced elements of other social strata who accept the party's programme and constitution."

The report says that the new "social strata" is defined as including private entrepreneurs, employees of foreign funded firms, the self-employed and freelance professionals.

Reuters also reported that Jiang made an appeal for fence-mending talks with Taiwan authorities which were suspended three years ago. "On the basis of the one-China principle, let us shelve for now certain political disputes and resume the cross-Strait dialogue and negotiations as soon as possible," President Jiang said.

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