On 90th anniversary, Hu Jintao warns Communist Party of corruption
Mr. Hu cautioned the core leadership of the party that its "survival" rested on tackling rising corruption, warning that doing so would require a "complicated and arduous battle".
Chinese President Hu Jintao on Friday said economic development and ensuring social stability would remain the priorities of the Communist Party of China (CPC), even as he warned its leadership that tackling widespread corruption within the party was key to "ensuring its very survival" as it marked its 90th anniversary.
Addressing a grand celebration at Beijing's Great Hall of the People on Friday morning, Mr. Hu said the CPC would "actively yet prudently" carry out political reforms, but stressed that any reforms would be carried out under the "core" leadership of the party.
"We must see to it that all state powers belong to the people... and ensure that the people can participate in democratic elections, decision making, administration and oversight in accordance with the law," he said.
However, the biggest priority for the party, he said, would be to uphold stability, which he described as "a critically important task."
"Without stability, nothing could be done, and even the achievements already made could be lost," he warned.
On its 90th anniversary, Mr. Hu said the CPC had won the support of the Chinese people for its role in securing national independence and for the development the country had achieved in the three decades since the reform and opening up.
But retaining that support, he warned, was no guarantee, cautioning that the party's "survival" rested on tackling rising corruption.
"If not effectively curbed, corruption will cost the Party the trust and support of the people," he said, warning that doing so would require a "complicated and arduous battle". "Leading officials at all levels must bear in mind that our power is entrusted to us by the people and can only be used in their interests," added Mr. Hu, who is also the CPC's General Secretary and head of its powerful Central Committee.
Grand celebrations
In the days leading up to July 1, the CPC has grandly celebrated its 90th anniversary, with events and performances being held in every Chinese city and province to mark its founding.
On Friday, Beijing's streets and parks were turned into a sea of red, with hundreds of banners celebrating the party's achievements and red flags lining the city's main avenue. Events were held in the city's parks to commemorate the Communist revolution, with the signing of Red songs and enactments of Mao Zedong's Long March.
The party has, in particular, highlighted China's economic progress over the past three decades, underscoring the message by unveiling landmark infrastructure projects this week. On Thursday, the Chinese government opened a $ 33 billion high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai, as well as inaugurated the world's longest sea-bridge, which connects the port of Qingdao and Huangdao.
On its anniversary, the party has presented its legacy carefully, focusing on its role in securing national independence and on the economic development that has spurred China's revival. The CPC's many failings under Mao Zedong, from the disastrous Great Leap Forward and subsequent famine in 1958, which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions, to the violent Cultural Revolution (1966-76), are off-limt topics amid the celebration.
Mr. Hu on Friday hinted at the troubled first three decades of the party's rule, saying the party would learn from the positive and negative lessons from its past.
He said the biggest risk the party faced today was "alienation from the people". "Therefore, we must always place the people's interests before everything else," he said. "It has thus become even more important and urgent than ever before for the Party to police itself and impose strict discipline on its members."
90 years on, the Party's in full swing
Going strong ... the popularity of Mao Zedong.
CHONGQING: It might seem odd that a man responsible for the starvation of more than 30 million people could be chosen to promote a restaurant, but there is no mistaking the avuncular features of Mao Zedong staring from the portrait above the entrance to the ''Red Leader'' Hot Pot eatery.
''Comrades! Welcome Comrades!'' breezes a pretty hostess dressed up as one of Chairman Mao's Red Guards, complete with armband and Mao lapel badge.
She is, of course, far too young to remember the Cultural Revolution, the Mao-inspired political civil war of 1966-1976 that tore her parents' generation apart. Back then ''comrade'' was the standard form of address; today it is only used by young Chinese as a slang word for ''gay''.
Going strong ... the popularity of Mao Zedong.
Welcome, then, to China 2011: a country of such abiding contradictions that the ruling Communist Party's darkest moment can be the subject of a vapid theme-restaurant, even as a battle rages between conservatives and reformers over the country's political direction.
Yesterday the party that Mao brought to power marked its 90th birthday, celebrating its founding by a small group of revolutionaries in Shanghai in 1921 with an outpouring of ''Red'' propaganda. Groups of party faithful gathered to sing ''Red'' songs; cinemas showed the state's latest star-studded propaganda epic, The Founding of a Party, while newspapers and television stations lionised the party's achievements.
This revival of the cult of Mao finds its apogee in the steaming megacity of Chongqing, whose charismatic Communist Party leader, Bo Xilai, has mounted a campaign to paint the city ''Red''.
However, for many Chinese, who have embraced the fruits of capitalism in recent decades, attempts by the party to take the ideological credit for China's transformation ring hollow. The party, for all its professions to clean up its act, is mired in constant corruption scandals and there is a widespread belief that it has become a decadent, self-enriching elite. This was a theme the President, Hu Jintao, addressed in a speech to mark the anniversary yesterday.
Mr Hu warned the ruling Communist Party faced severe ''growing pains'' as it turned 90 and that corruption, and alienation from China's people, could erode public support.
He lauded the party for leading China's rebirth but made clear that pitfalls lie ahead as it continues to strike an ungainly balance between economic openness and political rigidity.
The fight against corruption was the key to ''winning or losing public support and the life or death of the party,'' he said.
Telegraph, London / Agence France-Presse
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