China's economic miracle is propelling its one-party system into the future with no looking back, reports Gamal Nkrumah The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is undoubtedly the world's most electrifying political event this month. This has been a glorious week for China's Communists, with their relentless insistence on gravity and sobriety. They have created the Chinese economic miracle, and they intend to implement democratic reforms. So far, it is hard to see what that might mean. Moreover, they have not tired of their meticulous puritanism -- their determination to preserve a Marxist, one- party state and simultaneously encourage a "social market" economy, which is for all intents and purposes capitalist in nature. It is against this dramatic backdrop, that the pomp and ceremony of the CPC national congress attracted the attention of the political establishments in the developing countries of the South -- not just in Asia, but in Africa and the Middle East as well. Playing up the political shtick this week, the Chinese political establishment is the envy of the leaders of developing countries trying clumsily to democratise and institute Western-style political reform and economic deregulation. There is no doubt that China's economic prowess and political conservatism is upsetting Westerners. The CPC national convention is a deciding moment. It is also cause for pause. How long can the CPC's stranglehold on Chinese politics last? The implications of their staying power is bound to influence political developments in Africa and Asia. Impoverished and desperate people are excused if they tire of Western-style democracy that doesn't improve their standards of living, and seek to emulate the Chinese. In China there is no evidence of the shrinking relevance of these political throwbacks. The People's Republic has emerged as a credible role model. As delegates congregated at the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital Beijing, the world's attention focussed on the implications. The Chinese certainly have a strong sense of history -- and it is history in the making. Can China's Communists now kick it up a gear? There are spuriously successful case histories that China can take stock of. Take the case of neighbouring Japan. Economic dynamism after World War II brought great prosperity to Japan. Today, the Japanese economy is the second largest economy after the United States. However, the Japanese economy slackened considerably at the turn of the 21st century. But, Beijing has also done its fair share of housework. The week-long gathering has interested the pundits around the world. Surely, lifting 400 million people from poverty is no mean achievement. The world appears to be flying on the twin engines of insatiable American demand and obliging Chinese supply. Hard work, political acumen and business shrewdness are of paramount importance. All that and good fortune: China is an overwhelmingly homogenous country of more than 1.3 billion people. Steeped in the ideals of the Marxist doctrine, Chinese leaders are very rarely without historical references on their lips. China's President Hu Jintao has as his mantra "scientific development". Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory have not been discarded altogether or abandoned. Rather, they have deepened somewhat, matured and fine-tuned. "Unprecedented opportunities as well as unprecedented challenges," Chinese President Hu Jintao aptly summed it up. The CPC's young blood is yearning for change, raring for power. Not that the CPC's next generation is invincible. Even by the standards set by the geriatrics who had ruled China for generations, the new blood is even more sophisticated than ever. Moreover, the opposition to Communist rule is weaker than ever. It has been unable to stir up the millions of disaffected and disgruntled Chinese. Neither can it galvanise the disaffected, Westernised urban dwellers. Of course, this silver lining has its cloud. As the Chinese economy flies higher and higher and the standard of living of the Chinese people reaches new heights, the Chinese people's political aspirations are bound to soar, too. "Citizen's participation in political affairs will expand in an orderly way," Chinese President Hu Jintao set the tone of this week's CPC national congress. One view is that President Hu is making a virtue of stolid seriousness. The other is more cynical. "All party members must firmly uphold the centralised and unified leadership of the party, conscientiously abide by the party's political discipline, always be in agreement with the Central Committee and resolutely safeguard its authority to ensure that its resolutions and decisions are carried out effectively," President Hu lectured the assembled party delegates. The CPC appears once again to have wrong- footed those who have been trying to emasculate it. The limits of free expression are all too obvious in a country as big and buoyant as China. This is the first time that the procedures of the CPC national congress have been televised. There was wide coverage by the international media. And, much to the relief of the CPC leaders, this showpiece was not eclipsed by demonstrations staged by anti-democracy activists. Personnel shifts, at any rate, are still largely decided in secret. Can the fresh blood pick up all the slack if the Chinese leadership fails the people? The 80 years of iron-grip rule by the CPC on China encourages the prospects. Economics plays no small part. The economy is unlikely to go into recession in the foreseeable future; on the contrary, it is set to quadruple by 2020. China is the world's largest producer of most commodities, from toys and electronics to semiconductor chips and fiber optic cables. However, this double- digit economic growth has engendered a growing gap between rich and poor. "While recognising our achievements, we must be well aware that they still fall far short of the expectations of the people," the Chinese president conceded. He decried the "corruption" and "extravagance" of "a small number of party cadres". Gone are the old party barons. The younger generation, still with excellent party pedigrees, are taking over. The CPC is now more consensus-driven "rendering decision-making slower and more deliberate, and requiring extensive balancing and cooperation between competing factions, personalities and regions," observed Richard McGregor in The Financial Times. The CPC elected on Monday its 17th Central Committee and Central Commission for Discipline and Inspection. Unlike Western democracies where the principal powers of government are the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary, in the People's Republic the CPC holds unrivalled political sway. It effectively determines the National People's Congress (the parliament or legislature), as well as the State Council (the cabinet or Executive). Of no less importance is that it also controls the Military Affairs Commission (the army). The so-called Red Army's political role has diminished over the years. However, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is still a power not to be tampered with. As the country becomes more affluent, China's defence spending is sky-rocketing. Beijing says that spending on upgrading and modernising the PLA grew by 17.8 per cent this year (an estimated $45 billion) -- the biggest annual increase in a decade. There are subtle changes in other fields as well. The judiciary, which in Western countries is deemed "independent", has in recent years become increasingly brazen -- especially where it comes to the question of fighting corruption -- an issue that attracts massive public appeal. Indeed, Jerome Cohen, professor of law at New York University, writing recently in the influential Far Eastern Economic Review, argued that China's legal reform is being driven by the Supreme People's Court instead of the Politiburo. If so, great changes are in store for the Chinese. After all, the CPC affirmed a new leadership line-up that flies in the face of President Hu's political designs and curtails somewhat his bid for a consolidation of power. Oddly punctilious, the CPC is democratising in its own unique fashion. Hu presides over his first congress as party secretary. He wants to woo the young. Indeed, one good reason for Hu to do so is restiveness among the hitherto politically peripheralised young. Hu's initiative is supported by the public at large. "We should have wider perspectives and progressive attitudes," Geng Huifang a Beijing delegate was quoted as saying by the People's Republic official news agency Xinhua. This mental change began in a very Martian way. The stage on the Great People's Hall is set, the props are out, and the players are ready for taking the future into their own hands. Some, though, have queasy friendships with the up-and- coming not necessarily reputable economic elite. The auguries, according to many Western observers, are not entirely hopeful. "In the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People, under a giant hammer and sickle, [the Chinese president] appeared on a rostrum with all other members of the Politburo Standing Committee and the Cultural Committee arranged in precise hierarchical order," noted Joseph Kahn in The New York Times. In the final analysis, size matters and small is not necessarily beautiful. "It may be a pretty sight, but the outside world needs to take a long, hard look at the Chinese Communist Party this week," wrote Jonathan Watts in Britain's The Observer. "The world's biggest political organisation, which boasts more members than the UK population," stressed Watts. Indeed, this is precisely the point that the world cannot afford to overlook or belittle. The CPC has 73.4 million card-carrying members. Another point raised by Watts is the foreign policy implications of the CPC's national congress. "Beijing has shown a willingness to compromise and take into account international opinion. The impact on foreign policy is already evident from North Korea to Sudan to Burma," Watts contended. Western eyes are also on international economic ripple effects of the CPC national congress. "Washington accused China of manipulating prices on the raw materials used to produce steel, chemicals, airplanes and automobiles, giving Chinese manufacturers a massive advantage over their American competitors," warned the Singapore-based Straits Times. The international dimension of Chinese politics and economics cannot be underestimated. The fact that delegates conferred lavish praise on Hu might be satirised in the Western media, but the 73.4 million behind him can't be ignored. China's numbers of all sorts speak for themselves.
