Exaggerated praise and sharp criticism of Hu Jintao's "empty" speech
Beijing (AsiaNews) - China's state media are full of rave reviews of yesterday's speech by Hu Jintao at the opening of the 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but activists and dissidents have branded his 90 minute monologue as "nothing new "and even "empty ".
Most Chinese newspapers have drawn freely from Xinhua agency reports, emphasizing Hu's words about the corruption and economic development. An editorial in the "People's Daily" said that the 220 delegates applauded the speech in many areas and showed "strong support" for his "tenacious, hard and relentless spirit " in facing the challenges ahead.
But human rights activists point out that even the appeals of Hu against corruption are nothing new. "They have said all of this many times over," says the journalist Xiao Jiansheng, "including the warning about corruption bringing the Party down."
Indeed, this threat has surfaced in leader's speeches since the era of Jiang Zemin and more recently Hu, but in the last 10 years of his government corruption has become endemic.
For activists, the solution to corruption is a political reform to separate the party from the government, so that the administration can verify the work of the party. This separation is the real political reform, already called for by dissidents like Liu Xiaobo and all signatories of Charter 08.
The distinction between the executive and the legislature and the party is one of the reforms proposed by Zhao Ziyang in 1987, at the 13th Congress. It remained dead locked after the Tiananmen massacre, and the forced resignation and arrest of Zhao for opposing the army violence.
The dissident journalist Gao Yu, interviewed by RFA describes Hu's speech as "a joke." " "These guys have been in power for a decade, under the leadership of the Party, and corruption is far worse now than it was 10 years ago, let alone during the 1989 pro-democracy movement," she said. ... It's even worse than during the administration of Jiang Zemin ... And the responsibility is his [ Hu]: he is the president. "
Comparing Hu's speech to that of Zhao Ziyang in 1987, Gao Yu says: " "At the 13th Party Congress they were talking about separating Party and state, and limiting the Party's power to governing its own affairs... "The government was supposed to get more and more power, and civil groups were supposed to have the right to petition the government. This would be a path of reform".
In the speech Hu held yesterday, only one mention was made of "consultations" with the people, but without any elaboration.
Yesterday, one of the issues addressed by the outgoing president was also an appeal to the people of Hong Kong not to cultivate "anti-Chinese" feelings. The reference is to the resistance of the territory to have a "patriotic education" in schools that highlights only Chinese successes without any critical vision. In fact, according to some dissidents, the regime fear's that the democratic movement can spread all over China from Hong Kong.
Yesterday, in conjunction with the opening of the Congress, in Hong Kong there was a demonstration for greater respect for human rights in the territory and homeland. To the cry of "Stop forced evictions", "Free all dissidents!" and "Guarantee religious freedom", hundreds of people called for the end of single rule.
Lee Cheuk-yan, a Democrat, said: "It is not enough to affirm democracy in Hong Kong, we also want China to become democratic. Only then will Hong Kong have the guarantee of a free and democratic way of life."
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19/04/2007
