Tuesday 19 October 2010

CHINA AND POLITICAL REFORM

Reuters DEF

ANALYSIS: CHINA'S ABSENT POLITICAL REFORMS WORRY MANY

Chris Buckley

Reuters, October 19, 2010

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Communist Party has vowed ambitious changes on all fronts except the one -- its vast power -- that worried scholars, officials and even Premier Wen Jiabao call the biggest threat to long-term growth and stability.

It is a choice that shows the ruling party's confidence that it holds the country's future surely in its grip; it is also an absence some warn could come back to rattle that grip.

Party leaders emerged from a four-day meeting on Monday to present their plan for transforming the world's second biggest economy over the next half-decade, focusing on boosting income and spending power for millions. Even for a policy wish list, the few words on reforming government were hazy.

"Political reform was never on the table," said Wu Jiaxiang, a former aide to Chinese central leaders.

"Wen Jiabao may favor political reform, but he's just the premier in charge of the economy. Political reform is something the Standing Committee would have to all agree on, and they're really not interested."

(...) [artículo aquí]

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