China's Communist Party Congress opens with a warning (+video)

Hu clearly signaled that the party is not ready for any serious experiments in democracy, declaring that although “we do not follow the old rigid and closed path, nor do we take the evil way of changing flags and banners.”

“We will never copy a Western political system,” he added later.

China's ambitious economic goals

On the economic front, Hu set the ambitious goal of doubling China's per capita income by 2020, and reiterated the government’s intention of reorienting China’s growth policy away from reliance on exports and investment in giant projects, and toward household consumption.

He also repeated official calls for deeper reform of the financial system and of state-owned enterprises – reforms that foreign and domestic economists have been recommending for some time but which have yet to occur. In a hint that the government is prepared to make changes, Hu urged that “we should follow more closely the rules of the market and better play the role of the government.”

Most of the goals he set were vague, such as “continue to release and develop the productive forces,” or “safeguard social fairness and justice.”

Shortcomings of the party

But Hu was more precise when he acknowledged shortcomings in the party’s stewardship, warning that “unbalanced, uncoordinated, and unsustainable development remains a big problem.” He also admitted that “social problems have increased markedly” in recent years, pointing to education, health care, housing, food safety, and the administration of justice as flash points, along with “a lack of ethics and integrity in some fields of endeavor.”

He had strong words, too, for party officials who set themselves above the law. In what seemed to be a swipe at Bo Xilai, the former top party official who is now facing trial on charges of corruption, obstruction of justice and possibly involvement in the murder of a British businessman, Hu insisted that “no organization or individual has the privilege of overstepping the Constitution and the law.”

None of this impressed Zhang Lifan, a prominent historian and independent political commentator in Beijing. “There were a lot of empty promises in what he said, but I heard nothing practical or feasible,” Mr. Zhang says.

Nevertheless “we cannot conclude from this report that China will not move forward,” argues Mr. Yao. “This was Hu saying goodbye; a new generation is taking over, and Hu does not control the future.”

“We will have to wait and see how Xi Jinping behaves,” agrees Zhang, referring to the man almost certain to take over from Hu at the head of the Communist Party next week. “But if he acts along the lines of this speech, I think a lot of people will give up their last hopes in the Communist Party as an institution.”

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