congress will work on political reform

Domestic academics and overseas dissidents are calling for more political reform as the 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is due to open on Friday, Reuters reported. An open letter signed by about 200 Chinese political activists overseas urged the party to reverse its verdict on the 1989 pro-democracy protests during the congress, according to a human rights group. The letter commended the party for the economic reforms that brought China to a prominent status in the world's economic stage. "But fairly good economic development cannot conceal increasingly visible and deep social threats," it said. "The problem is that because of the rejection of systemic political reform, because of the rejection of democracy and rule of law, corruption is worse and worse." According to Liu Qing, president of New York-based Human Rights in China, the government should address the legitimate demands for political change from its own citizens and start by recognizing freedom of expression would benefit society. Inside the country, prominent academics are making bold calls for political reform. Hu Angang, head of the Center for China Studies run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Tsinghua University, cited the examples set up by Deng Xiaoping at the 13th party congress when the average age of the seven-man Politburo Standing Committee -- the party's top policy body -- was kept under 64. That would mean the stepping down of leaders such as Jiang Zemin. Hu added that the party should also have a clear policy on retirement. The line should not be blurry so that there could be semi-retirement or reshuffling position.