CHINA: BEIJING PUTS ON BEST FACE AS THOUSANDS OF PARTY DELEGATES ARRIVE FOR KEY CONGRESS AHEAD OF SWEEPING LEADERSHIP RESHUFFLE
Record ID:
584926
CHINA: BEIJING PUTS ON BEST FACE AS THOUSANDS OF PARTY DELEGATES ARRIVE FOR KEY CONGRESS AHEAD OF SWEEPING LEADERSHIP RESHUFFLE
- Title: CHINA: BEIJING PUTS ON BEST FACE AS THOUSANDS OF PARTY DELEGATES ARRIVE FOR KEY CONGRESS AHEAD OF SWEEPING LEADERSHIP RESHUFFLE
- Date: 8th November 2002
- Summary: (U3) BEIJING, CHINA (NOVEMBER 7, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV PEOPLE WALKING PAST SIGN FOR 16TH PARTY CONGRESS ON TIANANMEN SQUARE; SLV RED FLAGS FLUTTERING IN FRONT OF GREAT HALL OF THE PEOPLE (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. SLV POLICE GUARDING SQUARE WITH SNIFFER DOGS; SCU POLICE DOG; SLV PEOPLE ON TIANANMEN SQUARE 0.22 3. SLV SQUARE; SLV POLICEMAN GUARDING TIANANMEN SQUARE UNDERNEATH PORTRAIT OF CHAIRMAN MAO ZEDONG; SLV PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH GATE TO FORBIDDEN CITY; SCU POLICEMAN GUARDING SQUARE (5 SHOTS) 0.50 4. SLV PEOPLE WALKING UNDERNEATH PORTRAIT OF MAO ZEDONG; SLV ARMED POLICE PATROLLING SQUARE; SLV TIANANMEN SQUARE; MV RED FLAG FLUTTERING (5 SHOTS) 1.19 5. SLV SHOPPERS LOOKING AT LARGE DISPLAY OF BOOKS MARKING 16TH PARTY CONGRESS IN BOOKSHOP; MV POSTER FOR BOOKS ON CONGRESS; MV PEOPLE READING BOOKS; SCU PICTURE OF CHINESE PRESIDENT JIANG ZEMIN ON BOOK; MV STATE-OWNED COMPANY EMPLOYEE ZHANG YINA LOOKING AT BOOKS ON POLITICS (5 SHOTS) 1.44 6. (SOUNDBITE) ZHANG YINA, 26, EMPLOYEE IN STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISE, SAYING "I work outside Beijing for a state-owned enterprise. I hope that they will break down the old format to create some new policies to let me develop freely. I also hope there will be some protective policies which will be of benefit to us." 2.01 7. MV MAN LOOKING AT BOOK DISPLAY; SCU BOOK ON CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY HISTORY; MV PEOPLE READING BOOKS; SCU COMPANY EMPLOYEE LIU JIXIN READING BOOK (4 SHOTS) 2.22 8. (SOUNDBITE) LIU JIXIN, 20, COMPANY EMPLOYEE, SAYING "It's up to each person and I can't really say. But some people are really interested in the 16th Party Congress and some aren't at all. I can't really speak for each person, it's up to the individual." 2.36 9. MV PEOPLE READING BOOKS; SCU HAMMER AND SICKLE ON BOOK (3 SHOTS) 2.52 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 23rd November 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: China
- Reuters ID: LVACDCO5YU1JCX7VS8F0R9G94OBX
- Story Text: China's capital Beijing is putting on its best face as
thousands of party delegates arrive for a key congress ahead
of a sweeping leadership reshuffle.
Sniffer dogs and uniformed police were out in force on
Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Thursday (November 7, 2002) with
just one day to go before a landmark congress.
The 16th Party Congress will open in Beijing on Friday
(November 8) and during its week-long session, delegates are
expected to endorse a major leadership change.
The Congress comes amid mounting pressure on Chinese
leaders to modernise a political system that analysts say lags
dangerously behind the country's breakneck economic
development.
A human rights group on Wednesday (November 5) said some
200 Chinese political activists signed an open letter urging
the party to reverse its damning verdict on the 1989
pro-democracy protests which ended in a bloody government
crackdown on Tiananmen Square.
Some 2,100 delegates will attend the Congress, which is
set to approve plans to admit private entrepreneurs into the
party.
Beijing, with Tiananmen at its heart, has whipped into a
clean-up frenzy ahead of the congress, with hordes of workers
and police touching up the appearance of the capital and
sweeping its streets of crime.
Scores of red flags adorn the government buildings ringing
the square and thousands of traditional red lanterns are
strung up along Beijing's main thoroughfare, Chang An -- the
Avenue of Eternal Peace.
The city also has beefed up a "strike hard" campaign
against crime.
In September, security tsar Luo Gan said creating a stable
social environment for "the triumphant convening" of the Party
Congress was a "sacred duty" of all law enforcement officials.
For the Congress, police have been equipped with new gear
ahead of the meeting, including cars, gas masks and
bullet-proof helmets and vests, state media say.
At one of Beijing's largest bookshops, shoppers browsed
through a huge display of books marking the 16th Party
Congress.
The prominent display - with hundreds of books on various
topics including Chinese communist party history and Deng
Xiaoping theory - will last for the duration of the congress.
Many work units are still required to own several of the
large tomes and schools teach classes on Marxist theory and
Deng Xiaoping theory.
Zhang Yina who works for a state-owned enterprise said she
hoped the congress would bring about new economic policies.
"I work outside Beijing for a state-owned enterprise. I
hope that they will break down the old format to create some
new policies to let me develop freely. I also hope there will
be some protective policies which will be of benefit to us,"
Zhang said.
The congress is also expected revise the party
constitution to embrace private entrepreneurs, once railed
against as exploiters and running dogs of capitalism,
allowing them to join the party.
Despite the large publicity for the congress many young
people are uninspired by the meeting.
"It's up to each person and I can't really say. But some
people are really interested in the 16th Party Congress and
some aren't at all. I can't really speak for each person, it's
up to the individual," 20-year-old Liu Jixin.
Many people are expecting a leadership change within the
Party.
President Jiang Zemin is expected to step down as party
chief with other top leaders at the congress under an
unofficial deal made at the last congress in 1997 not to
pursue office after the age of 70.
But Chinese sources say he could retain his third post as
head of the Central Military Commission and may form an
advisory body of new retirees to maintain power after
retirement.
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