纽约时报 中国领导人闭门改革

中国主席胡锦涛承诺在他作为中国最高领导人的第二任期期间解决社会裂痕、环境退化以及腐败蔓延等问题，但在15日中共十七大开幕致辞中，他排除一切非装饰性的政治改革。

　　胡锦涛宽泛地论述他的“科学发展观”，这是一套支持经济、社会和政治协调发展的一套崇高而空泛的原则。

　　党代表大会将把“科学发展观”列入党章，和毛泽东、邓小平和江泽民的政治口号一道，让胡锦涛在开始作为中共中央总书记、国家主席和军委主席的第二任期（也是最后任期）之时晋身领导人的伟人祠。

　　讲话拉开了为期一周的大会的帷幕。党代表大会五年一度，颂扬过去的领导人，欢迎新近晋升到领导位置的年轻官员。会议的程序（礼节性的）表现出天衣无缝的统一性和连贯性。

　　胡锦涛修订了2000年到2050年经济翻两番的既定目标，他表示党如今将把目标订为“人均GDP”翻两番。

　　这个转变反映胡锦涛强调亲民目标。但中国的人口增长（估计在这20年间增长大约2亿）让这个目标显得更加雄心勃勃。那表明胡锦涛认为经济可以超越他和他的前任在2002年的上一届党代表大会上所认为可能实现的目标。

　　他认为国际形势有利于中国，称“多极世界的趋势是不可逆转的”。他提出，只要台湾领导人取消独立目标，可以与台湾举行和平谈判。

　　在“科学发展”的定义中，胡锦涛讨论了贫富之间日益加大的差距。他表示经济过分依赖投资，对消费依赖不足，而且领导人应该做更多事情保护环境。

　　他表示党应该更积极回应公众。他还呼吁“党内民主”，让更多党官员参与决策。他表示腐败对党的生存构成威胁，在领导层整肃上海前市委书记陈良宇之后，这特别能引起共鸣。但胡锦涛主张只能渐进的政治改革。他坚持维护一党专政。（作者 JOSEPH KAHN）

China’s Leader Closes Door to Reform

BEIJING, Oct. 15 — President Hu Jintao promised to address social fissures, a degraded environment and rampant corruption during his second term as China’s top leader, but he all but ruled out more than cosmetic political reform in his opening address on Monday at the 17th National Congress of the governing Communist Party.

Mr. Hu spoke extensively about his “scientific view of development,” a set of lofty, vague principles supporting harmonious economic, social and political development.

The congress will enshrine the phrase “scientific view of development” into the party’s constitution alongside the political slogans of Mao, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, elevating Mr. Hu into the pantheon of leaders as he begins his second and final term as party general secretary, head of state and military chief.

This speech kicked off the weeklong event, which is held once every five years to extol past leaders and welcome a roster of younger officials newly elevated to leading roles. Party members have described the leadership contest, conducted in secret, as fractious. But the congress proceedings, which are ceremonial, present a facade of seamless unity and continuity.

In the main auditorium of the Great Hall of the People, under a giant hammer and sickle, Mr. Hu appeared on a rostrum with all the other members of the Politburo and the Central Committee, arranged in precise hierarchical order. They were joined by party elders, including Mr. Jiang, Mr. Hu’s direct predecessor, and at least two stalwarts of an earlier era, Wan Li and Song Ping, both more than 90 years old.

In keeping with tradition, Mr. Hu’s address, which lasted two and half hours, stressed the correctness of the rhetoric and guiding philosophies of the past. Though the text of the speech ran to 64 pages, Mr. Hu discussed few specific government programs and provided only broad hints about what he intended to do between now and 2012, when under party retirement rules he will make way for a new top leader.

“China is going through a wide-ranging and deep-going transformation,” Mr. Hu told the 2,200 party delegates and a national television audience. “This brings us unprecedented opportunities as well as unprecedented challenges. On the whole, the opportunities outweigh the challenges.”

Mr. Hu revised one well-established goal, the quadrupling of economic output from 2000 to 2020, saying that the party would now aim for a fourfold increase in “per capita G.D.P.” instead of overall gross domestic product over that period.

The switch to a per capita target reflects Mr. Hu’s emphasis on populist goals. But China’s population increase — estimated at about 200 million during the 20-year period — makes the goal more ambitious. That suggests that Mr. Hu thinks the economy can outperform what he and his predecessors considered possible — or prudent — at the last party congress in 2002.

He called the international situation favorable to China, saying a “trend toward a multipolar world is irreversible.” He offered to hold peace talks with Taiwan, the self-governing island China claims as its territory, as long as the island’s leadership sets aside independence goals.

In defining “scientific development,” Mr. Hu discussed the growing gap between rich and poor. He said that the economy relied too much on investment and not enough on consumption, and that the leadership should do more to protect the environment.

“We must adopt an enlightened approach to development that results in expanded production, a better life and sound ecological and environmental conditions,” he said.

Mr. Hu said the party should become more responsive to the public. He also called for “intraparty democracy,” or allowing more party officials to participate in decision making.

Corruption, he said, poses a threat to the party’s survival, a particularly resonant issue after the leadership purged the former Shanghai Party boss, Chen Liangyu, in one of the highest-level corruption scandals in its history.

But Mr. Hu advocated only incremental political change. He insisted on maintaining the party’s monopoly on power, saying that it must remain “the core that directs the overall situation and coordinates the efforts of all quarters.”

The proceedings got under way even as speculation mounted that the party elite was still negotiating membership in the new Politburo Standing Committee, the top governing body, even though a list of people slated for top posts was submitted to the Central Committee last week, according to people told about the closed-door proceedings.

The list called for a nine-man Standing Committee headed by Mr. Hu, with three current members retiring. Two younger leaders, Xi Jinping, party boss of Shanghai, and Li Keqiang, party secretary of Liaoning Province, are expected to join the Standing Committee and inherit top jobs when Mr. Hu steps down, the people told about the meeting said.

But over the weekend one of the current Standing Committee members who was expected to retire, Vice President Zeng Qinghong, was appointed secretary general of the congress’s secretariat, a position that historically signals inclusion in the Standing Committee for the coming term.

That suggests that Mr. Hu was either awarding an unusual honor to Mr. Zeng, or that the vice president, considered the second most powerful official in the party apparatus after Mr. Hu, may stay on for another term.

It also remained unclear whether the Central Committee, which will have the opportunity to vote on the leadership roster, will signal its disapproval of one or more senior leaders. While such dissenting votes are rare, low vote totals can force unpopular officials to step aside.

The final lineup will not be known for certain until Sunday, when the new Politburo Standing Committee makes its first joint public appearance to conclude the congress.

China Cancels Iran Meeting

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (Reuters) — China, protesting a plan by Congress to honor the Dalai Lama, pulled out of a meeting this week at which world powers were to discuss further action against Iran, the State Department said Monday.

The meeting — scheduled for Wednesday in Berlin to discuss the showdown with Iran over its nuclear program — has been postponed, probably until next week, said a State Department official, who spoke on condition he not be identified.

“They had indigestion over the presence of certain spiritual leaders” in the United States and at an event with Congress, the official said.

The Dalai Lama is regarded by China as a Tibetan separatist. His presence at the Congressional Gold Medal award ceremony at the Capitol is to be the first time he and President Bush appear together in public.