From Asia Times:
…While most of the NPC session was humdrum on the face of it, the combined policy initiatives the 3,000 delegates endorsed are comparable in their significance to the reform measures introduced by Deng Xiaoping. They signal the coming of age of the new leaders, president and Communist Party chief Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, their readiness to take charge, their determination to usher in the next phase of economic reform with their imprint on it.
…In their speeches to the congress, both Hu and Wen in effect sought to align themselves and the central government squarely with the demands and aspirations of the rural poor (some 800 million) and – more broadly – those left out or disappointed by the Deng-inspired drive to get rich and against local power elites and officialdom.
