CHINA’S COMMUNIST Party gathers for a key meeting today aimed at combating corruption and streamlining the process of “party-building” ahead of the 60th anniversary of the revolution that brought the government to power.
The fourth plenum of the Communist Party’s 17th central committee is an annual meeting of about 300 top cadres to discuss major policies and this year President Hu Jintao will review the party’s performance over the last six decades. These, ideologues say, divide into two 30-year sections, the last 30 having seen reform and an opening up, allowing China to grow into a global power.
The politburo has decided that the four-day plenum will focus on “strengthening and improving the party” and look at ways to force local officials to disclose their personal assets and those of their close relatives. This is known as the “sunshine policy”.
Each year there are outbreaks of civil unrest against abuses of power by local officials. These include the demanding of bribes, public revelations about mistresses and the forced sale of land to unscrupulous property developers. The party sees these protests as undermining single-party rule and Mr Hu has instigated numerous campaigns to rein in official abuses.
“Our society hopes very much that the party is able to use all means to get rid of corruption and degradation, including measures requiring officials to disclose their personal assets,” the magazine Outlook, which is published by the official state news agency Xinhua, said in July. “There is reason to believe that the fourth plenum will meet society’s expectations to come up with new measures.”
Every year, about 50,000 officials are convicted of corruption, said China Daily. Some high-profile scalps in the campaign against corruption include former Shenzhen mayor Xu Zongheng, state-owned oil giant Sinopec’s former chairman Chen Tonghai and head of the country’s nuclear power programme Kang Rixin.
Democracy will also be on the agenda. Mr Hu has ruled out western-style democracy for China, but the party plans to introduce greater levels of transparency, ways to deal with growing bureaucracy and attempts to expand democracy in the way local officials are elected.
The plenum will be closely watched to see if party secretary of the restive region of Xinjiang, Wang Lequan, an ally of President Hu, might be demoted or transferred over his handling of the unrest in Urumqi in July in which almost 200 people died.