Benjamin Kang Lim in Beijing
Saturday January 4, 2003
The Guardian
The general secretary of the Chinese communist party, Hu Jintao, has made a
keynote speech urging the party's 65 million members to live a simple life
and avoid the temptations of money, power and sex. The speech by China's
leader-in-waiting was splashed on the front pages of all the main Chinese
newspapers yesterday.
Analysts said it was aimed at reviving the image of a party tarnished by
high-level corruption scandals - and at reassuring party stalwarts that
they should not feel threatened by recent moves to embrace private
entrepreneurs.
In his speech, Mr Hu urged cadres to embrace "the fine style of simple
living and hard work, and endeavour to realise the grand goal of building a
well-off society in an all-round way".
"Whether every party member, especially leading cadres, can resist the
temptations of power, money, beauty and sex is a practical test," Mr Hu said.
The speech was delivered on December 6, but excerpts were only published
yesterday.
The newspapers gave no reason for the delay in publishing Mr Hu's first
major policy address since he succeeded Mr Jiang as general secretary.
The handover happened at the 16th party congress in November and was
China's first orderly succession since 1949. Mr Hu is expected to be
elected president at the annual session of parliament in March.
Mr Hu, virtually surrounded by Mr Jiang's allies in the new party
leadership, made his remarks during a visit to the northern province of
Hebei, the site of Mao Zedong's last revolutionary base before he swept to
power in 1949.
In the speech, Mr Hu invoked Mao's name 16 times, quoting the late
communist party chairman extensively. That compared with just five mentions
for Mr Jiang.
"The roads we must walk are still long. The responsibilities we must
shoulder are still heavy," he said.
"The difficulties and challenges we may face are still many. We must be
humble, prudent, live a simple life and work hard from start to end."
Some analysts linked Mr Hu's comments on frugality with the landmark
decision at the November congress to admit entrepreneurs to the party.
"Hu Jintao was trying assure hardliners that the communist party has not
become a capitalist party," said Kou Chien-wen, a China watcher at the
Institute of International Relations in Taiwan.
Mr Hu's attack on corruption is also thought to be an attempt to assert
himself and stake his claim to be the leader of China's next generation.
Corruption was virtually eliminated in the years after the communists took
power in 1949, but the scourge began to return after economic reforms in
the late 1970s.
"This is a huge political priority for the party," a western diplomat said.
"Its own legitimacy is sapped a great deal in the eyes of the Chinese
public via the endemic corruption in this country."
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/story/0,7369,868523,00.html
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/01/03/1837143
