Towards a contentious reform

The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), held 9-16 October at the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing, demonstrated a determination to quell dissent, particularly within the party. The first signs of this crackdown came three weeks prior to the Congress with the sudden ouster of five key ministers, including Finance Minister Jin Renqing and State Security Minister Xu Yongyue, as well as the replacement of the editor of China's official news agency, Xinhua. Much of this stress is directly related to how ongoing economic reforms will be melded with the CPC's traditional ideology.

The CPC central committee's 22,000-word report, presented to the Congress by the party chairman, President Hu Jintao, officially ignored any tension within the world's largest communist party. Factionalism, inevitably, dies hard within the regimes of official and post-Lenin communist parties, particularly when it comes to the question of economic reform. Meanwhile, Beijing's commitment to the changes prescribed by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation appears to remain in place, despite the fact that the World Federation of Trade Unions and the International Confederation of Trade Unions both consider the Bretton Woods trio to be a distinct threat to the poor. In this regard, Beijing's commitments are directly in line with President Hu's re-affirmation of his control during the course of the Congress.