Hu Jintao’s opening address to the 17th CPC National Congress is delivered at long last. The take-away so far: Vague pledges to pursue political reform and clarification of the Party’s previous promise to quadruple GDP. From Reuters:
Hu reserved his most dramatic language for the need to protect the environment and conserve resources, which he said was vital to “the survival and development of the Chinese nation”.
Only by transforming its economic model and nursing the environment would China quadruple per-capita growth in gross domestic product between 2000 and 2020, Hu said. [Full Text]
The article goes on to explore the implications of the speech for yuan revaluation, among other global concerns with China’s economy, while another Reuters report summarizes the speech’s less-than-earthshaking political content.
Xinhua’s , for its part, offers a series of sunny predictions for the China of 2020: “The country will be still more open and friendly to the outside world and make greater contributions to human civilization…[It] will also be a country where people are better off and enjoy markedly improved quality of life and a good environment.”
[Image: Hu Jintao opens the curtain on the 17th Party Congress, from China Daily]
