CHINA: China's leader, Mr Jiang Zemin, has ruled out Western democracy for China but warned the China Communist Party's 66 million members they must "keep pace with the times" to stay in power.
At the opening of the 16th Party Congress, he warned that the party must adapt or die. "We must move forward or we will fall behind," he said. "Whether we can persist in doing this bears on the future and destiny of the party and state."
In a hint that he was about to retire, the 76-year-old General Secretary looked back on his 13 years in power with satisfaction, saying the party had survived the upheavals that had brought down the Soviet Communist Party and other revolutionary movements.
In a 90-minute speech, Mr Jiang described how the party could continue in power and promised that the country would be democratic and prosperous by the middle of the century.
He continued to stress that the party must maintain its iron grip on all areas of the state to guarantee "social stability" but dropped vague hints that it had to change the way it ruled.
He called for "developing socialist democracy" saying it is "essential to expand citizen's participation in political affairs" and necessary to ensure human rights are respected.
"We should establish and improve an inner-party democratic system," he said. "Political restructuring must help enhance the vitality of the party and state."
However, he also praised the People's Liberation Army which brought him to power when it quelled the nationwide pro-democracy protests in 1989. "The party's absolute authority over the army is the eternal soul of the army."
Mr Jiang elaborated on a plan to broaden the party's power base so it would represent all classes, not just the working class, while jettisoning Marxism as quickly and as decently as possible.
In a speech noticeable for the rare references to Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin or Mao, Mr Jiang often lapsed into management babble. He foresaw how his country would be "blazing a new trail to industrialisation" by relying on new technologies, and above all information technology.
He promised to do more to help the losers in the reforms, the 30 million thrown out of work by the restructuring of state-owned industries, and the hundreds of millions of peasants still mired in poverty. Yet his speech give few clues on how a functioning welfare system would be created.
Mr Jiang reserved his greatest enthusiasm for hi-tech venture capitalism on the US model. "It is like a religion for him," said one Western diplomat.
This party congress will formally endorse the entry into the party of a "new social strata" including private entrepreneurs and the retirement of "third generation" leaders, including himself.
Mr Jiang's tone was more relaxed than in the past. There was less talk of the grave external threats facing the party and he unexpectedly proposed resuming talks with Taiwan, which were broken off three years ago.