Andra_Jenny
Mentally Divergent
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2000
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[From the South China Morning Post - sorry about losing the paragraphs]
MARK O'NEILL in Beijin
President Jiang Zemin yesterday welcomed the new rich into the Chinese Communist Party on the 80th anniversary of its founding, telling cadres to give up "outdated notions" about the development of Marxism. The President also vowed in his speech to delegates in the Great Hall of the People to continue the war against corruption, but said little about political liberalisation. Mr Jiang said it was incorrect to use wealth to judge whether a person was politically progressive. "It is not advisable to judge a person's political integrity simply by whether one owns property and how much property he or she owns," Mr Jiang was quoted by Xinhua as saying. "But rather, we should judge him or her mainly by his or her political awareness, moral integrity and performance, by how he or she has acquired the property, and how it has been disposed of and used, and by his or her actual contribution to the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics." Many entrepreneurs, technical professionals employed outside the state sector, managers hired by foreign firms and self-employed people were working to build socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said. The 64.5 million-strong Communist Party should admit "outstanding people from other parts of society" in addition to its rank-and-file membership - mainly farmers, workers, intellectuals, soldiers and cadres - to boost its "influence and cohesiveness", he said. The Communist Party's charter says it must represent the working class and proletariat. However, the rise of the private sector in the past two decades and the fact that many party members now own property has sparked criticism among conservative members, who argue that these "newly rich people" should be kept out of the ruling party. In an apparent response to such criticism, the 74-year-old party chief told cadres to free themselves from "outdated notions, practices and systems, from the erroneous and dogmatic interpretations of Marxism". He said the party must "make fresh contributions to developing Marxism". Mr Jiang said that China remained in the "primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a long time to come". "Achieving communism is a very, very long process," he said, adding circumstances today were far different to those the founders of Marxism faced. Mr Jiang earned his greatest applause with his promises to combat corruption and reunify Taiwan with the mainland. "No person or force can stop China's reunification," he said. While China would walk its "own path" - an apparent reference to the collapse of communism elsewhere in the world - Mr Jiang also said the People's Republic would "resolutely resist the influence of the Western multi-party system". The speech was also notable for what Mr Jiang did not say - there was no mention of political liberalisation, or of the military crackdown on student-led protests in 1989. However, Mr Jiang did make indirect reference to mistakes made by the Communist Party, which brought the country to the brink of collapse. "Our party made mistakes and even suffered serious setbacks in some historical periods. The most important cause for that was the guiding ideology of the party was divorced from Chinese reality at the time," Mr Jiang said, apparently referring to disasters such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. "These are things that we must never forget." Outside the Great Hall, a heavy presence of armed police and plain-clothes officers kept potential troublemakers away. The only public sign of protest came from two members of the Falun Gong group, outlawed by Mr Jiang two years ago, who were detained after unveiling a banner in Tiananmen Square supporting their movement.
MARK O'NEILL in Beijin
President Jiang Zemin yesterday welcomed the new rich into the Chinese Communist Party on the 80th anniversary of its founding, telling cadres to give up "outdated notions" about the development of Marxism. The President also vowed in his speech to delegates in the Great Hall of the People to continue the war against corruption, but said little about political liberalisation. Mr Jiang said it was incorrect to use wealth to judge whether a person was politically progressive. "It is not advisable to judge a person's political integrity simply by whether one owns property and how much property he or she owns," Mr Jiang was quoted by Xinhua as saying. "But rather, we should judge him or her mainly by his or her political awareness, moral integrity and performance, by how he or she has acquired the property, and how it has been disposed of and used, and by his or her actual contribution to the cause of building socialism with Chinese characteristics." Many entrepreneurs, technical professionals employed outside the state sector, managers hired by foreign firms and self-employed people were working to build socialism with Chinese characteristics, he said. The 64.5 million-strong Communist Party should admit "outstanding people from other parts of society" in addition to its rank-and-file membership - mainly farmers, workers, intellectuals, soldiers and cadres - to boost its "influence and cohesiveness", he said. The Communist Party's charter says it must represent the working class and proletariat. However, the rise of the private sector in the past two decades and the fact that many party members now own property has sparked criticism among conservative members, who argue that these "newly rich people" should be kept out of the ruling party. In an apparent response to such criticism, the 74-year-old party chief told cadres to free themselves from "outdated notions, practices and systems, from the erroneous and dogmatic interpretations of Marxism". He said the party must "make fresh contributions to developing Marxism". Mr Jiang said that China remained in the "primary stage of socialism and will remain so for a long time to come". "Achieving communism is a very, very long process," he said, adding circumstances today were far different to those the founders of Marxism faced. Mr Jiang earned his greatest applause with his promises to combat corruption and reunify Taiwan with the mainland. "No person or force can stop China's reunification," he said. While China would walk its "own path" - an apparent reference to the collapse of communism elsewhere in the world - Mr Jiang also said the People's Republic would "resolutely resist the influence of the Western multi-party system". The speech was also notable for what Mr Jiang did not say - there was no mention of political liberalisation, or of the military crackdown on student-led protests in 1989. However, Mr Jiang did make indirect reference to mistakes made by the Communist Party, which brought the country to the brink of collapse. "Our party made mistakes and even suffered serious setbacks in some historical periods. The most important cause for that was the guiding ideology of the party was divorced from Chinese reality at the time," Mr Jiang said, apparently referring to disasters such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. "These are things that we must never forget." Outside the Great Hall, a heavy presence of armed police and plain-clothes officers kept potential troublemakers away. The only public sign of protest came from two members of the Falun Gong group, outlawed by Mr Jiang two years ago, who were detained after unveiling a banner in Tiananmen Square supporting their movement.
