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China puts economy first as parliamentary season begins

AFP

Top nine leaders of China pictured by official news agency Xinhua on 3 March 2010. From left to right first row: Li Changchun, Wen Jiabao, Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo and Jia Qinglin. Left to right second row: He Guoqiang, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang and Zhou Yongkang. The nine leaders attended the opening meeting of the third session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.Xinhua/China

China opened its annual parliamentary season Wednesday with a call from the Communist leadership to keep up economic growth, maintain social stability and tackle a yawning urban-rural income gap.

More than 2,000 delegates to a legislative advisory body — from Mao Zedong’s grandson to former Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang — convened before the National People’s Congress opens its session on Friday.

The two gatherings are the ruling Communist Party’s chance to showcase its efforts to tackle the key challenges facing the country, and economic concerns looked set to top that list.

“The year 2010 is a crucial year to address the international financial crisis and maintain balanced and rather fast economic development,” said Jia Qinglin, head of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

“We must pay high attention to elements of an excessively large income gap affecting social stability,” Jia said in an opening speech at the Great Hall of the People on the western edge of Tiananmen Square.

The rubber-stamp NPC will meet for about 10 days to endorse the decisions of the Communist Party elite in an annual ritual celebrating China’s top-down political system.

Among the delegates to the advisory body were Liu, who struck gold at the 2004 Athens Games, award-winning film director Zhang Yimou and Mao Xinyu, the grandson of revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

Also recently named to the CPPCC was the Panchen Lama, who China named as the second highest Tibetan Buddhist leader in 1995, rejecting a child candidate selected by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.

In the run-up to Friday’s NPC opening, at which Premier Wen Jiabao will deliver his annual work report, an increased police presence was evident, with security vans on patrol on Tiananmen Square.

Up to 700,000 people including police, paramilitary forces and volunteers have been mobilised to maintain public order in the capital for the parliamentary session, state media said.

Copyright © 2010 AFP

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