Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Behind the veil

Ian Johnson and Michael Wines speculate in The New York Times about what might be discussed at an upcoming meeting of THE elite of China's Communist Party. Could this be the political equivalent of science fiction? We'll have to wait until after the meeting (perhaps long after) to evaluate this speculation.

Talk of Reform to Enliven Leaders’ Meeting in China

Against a backdrop of a rare discussion about political reform, China’s top leaders are preparing to set the country’s economic policies and political leadership for the next decade…

But already, the country’s political classes are chattering about what may or may not happen at this secretive gathering.

The only firm piece of business known to be on the agenda is the country’s Five-Year Plan, which could move China toward a less export-oriented economic model — with implications for issues like the United States trade deficit. It is also likely that officials will begin to determine the succession to the leadership duo of President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, both of whom are to retire in two years.

But it is the talk about political reform that makes this year’s meeting intriguing. Some officials have been calling for an overhaul of the country’s political system… Others at the top have been silent or have explicitly rejected such talk…

To many, China hardly seems in need of a system overhaul. The country weathered the global financial crisis with robust economic growth…

But on the ground, the situation is far messier…

In August, speaking in Shenzhen, the Chinese city that pioneered many economic changes, Prime Minister Wen echoed these arguments in a speech carried by the party’s flagship daily, People’s Daily…

When Chinese leaders talk about political reform they often mean making the administrative system more efficient or open, but not democratic in a Western sense…

What does seem clear is that Mr. Wen’s call has exposed differing priorities among senior leaders. Also speaking in Shenzhen, which was celebrating the 30th anniversary of its creation as a Special Economic Zone, President Hu did not mention political reform. More pointedly, the country’s head of security, Zhou Yongkang, rejected political reform. In an article carried in the party’s main theoretical journal, Qiushi, Mr. Zhou wrote that some party members had been influenced by “erroneous Western political and legal ideas.”…