Hu: “Reforms Will Determine China’s Fate”

Chinese President Hu Jintao said, “We will uphold Chinese-style socialism and build a ‘xiao kang’ society by 2020” at the country’s 17th Communist Party Congress that opened in Beijing yesterday. A ‘xiao kang’ society means an affluent society where people do not have to worry about their livelihoods.

Hu read for 2.5 hours at the congress attended by 2,237 out of a total of 2,270 representatives and urged, “Let us uphold the great spirit of Chinese-style socialism and go all-out to build a xiao kang society.”

He also announced the goal of quadrupling the country’s per capita GDP by 2020 compared with 2000. That is the same goal former President Jiang Zemin proclaimed in the 16th congress in 2002.

Hu stressed: “Reform is the only option that will determine the fate of modern China and a path that we must follow to achieve the development of Chinese-style socialism and the renaissance of Chinese people.” He said he would not alter his main policy of reform and promoting market opening, even if there are serious side effects, including the widening gap between rich and poor.

Hu said, “China’s economic performance has improved lately. But its overall production level and self-reliant innovation capacity is not high, while there has been no improvement in structural conditions along with substandard growth methods,” adding, “To resolve these problems, we need to push forward with our scientific development strategy.”

He went onto say, “The core of our scientific development strategy is development, and the key is to focus on human resources. Four principles, including sustainability and consistency of development, are essential. For scientific development, we need to stick to reforms, market opening, and the four principles, with the economy being at the center of that strategy.”

Hu also added, “Unification with Taiwan is historically inevitable. We cannot tolerate the independence of Taiwan,” proposing a peace treaty with Taipei to achieve peaceful unification.

orionha@donga.com