Picture: REUTERS Picture: REUTERS
BEIJING: There may well be nine million bicycles in Beijing. Singer Katie Melua was onto something when she wrote those lyrics more than a decade ago.
But as the heavens opened in the Chinese capital yesterday, the favoured mode of transport was less apparent than the number of umbrellas around Beijing.
Thousands of delegates and journalists were drenched as they filed into the Great Hall of the People.
They were there to witness President Xi Jinping’s opening address of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The congress is held every five years and is the foremost political meeting in China.
The marathon three-hour speech set the agenda for the week of plenaries and sittings to plot the next five years of political governance of China.
President Xi set a conciliatory tone under the theme “one country, two systems” - move towards the continued reunification of Hong Kong and Macao with China.
The president also committed to pursuing the same for Taiwan.
These regions have had strained relations with China for decades.
“To maintain long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao, it is imperative to fully and faithfully implement the policies of ‘one country, two systems’... the people of Hong Kong governing Hong Kong, the people of Macao governing Macao, and a high degree of autonomy for both regions.”
He added: “Resolving the Taiwan question to realise China’s complete reunification is the shared aspiration of all Chinese people, and is in the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation.”
The reunification plan is part of a 14-point policy of reform President Xi revealed as part of his political report in his capacity as CPC general secretary that “underpins our endeavours to uphold and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era”.
Other points in the policy include establishing international stability and peace, environmental protection, law-based governance free of graft, and a people-centred approach to governance.
The speech was less in the spirit of a party-political rally and more like an opening of Parliament address in tone and delivery, and the president reaffirmed win-win relations with China’s diplomatic and trading partners.
Journalists outside the hall remarked that President Xi was decidedly more upbeat than in previous addresses.
But as the speech - which was delivered in Chinese with no translation services available - entered its third hour, journalists both foreign and local grew weary.
Media workers started peeling off to the corridors of the historic chamber to join snaking lines for hard copies of the speech in their own respective languages.
The business of the congress is now in full swing. Before President Xi’s speech yesterday, a preparatory meeting vetted the credentials and qualifications of all elected delegates.
Panel discussions and plenaries about the report are now to be held where draft resolutions will be submitted based on the input of delegates.
All delegates will then vote on the adoption of the new party constitution and its amendments.
The CPC Central Committee, the party’s highest ranking body, is then convened with 200 full members and more than 160 alternate members.
The alternate members comprise representatives from universities, research institutions, media groups and the armed forces.
There is significant global interest in the congress.
China is the world’s second largest economy, behind only the United States.
In the last five years of President Xi’s rule it has spent billions of US dollars in foreign aid and investment.
“The Chinese nation is a great nation. It has been through hardships and adversity but remains indomitable,” he said.
“The Chinese people are a great people. They are industrious and brave, and they never pause in the pursuit of progress.”
gasant.abarder@inl.co.za
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