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BEIJING - China's Communist Party elite approved a list of candidates
for top positions Saturday, setting the stage for final negotiations
whose outcome will be a key indicator of President Hu Jintao's
political strength.
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With the list of an unspecified number of candidates in hand, the more
than 2,200 delegates to a weeklong party congress on Sunday will
select the Central Committee, a body that appoints top leaders and
sets broad policy goals.
Recent months have brought fractious backroom bargaining among senior
party members, although Hu has issued a customary call for unity at
the congress, held once every five years.
The result of the tussle will determine how strong or divided the
leadership is as it tries to ease tensions over a wide rich-poor gap
at home and manage China's rising clout abroad so as not to anger the
U.S. and other world powers.
The congress is all but certain to give Hu a second five-year term as
party chief. But for him, the event offers a chance to pack leading
party bodies with allies, including a potential successor, thereby
giving himself a freer hand to shape policies.
At Sunday's Central Committee selection, a test for Hu will be whether
Vice President Zeng Qinghong is on the list. A skilled party operator,
Zeng rose to power as an aide to Hu's predecessor, helping him shove
aside rivals. Though Zeng has also helped Hu do the same, his presence
is seen as a constraint on Hu's power and at age 68, Zeng is around
the party's soft retirement age for most leaders.
Aside from selecting the Central Committee, the congress will appoint
the members of the party's internal corruption watchdog agency and
adopt a revision to the party's charter endorsing a reference to Hu's
pet policy initiative - "the scientific outlook on development."
The program, a hallmark of Hu's first five years, has called for
increased social spending to help farmers and urban workers whose
living standards have not risen as fast as many other Chinese under
capitalist economic reforms.
The new Central Committee will meet Monday to approve the lineup of
the powerful Politburo and its Standing Committee, which runs China.
Though congress and Central Committee delegates have some influence
over leadership decisions, most of the lineup is decided among a core
group of the most powerful party members and elders.
State-run media reported that a 237-member steering committee led by
Hu approved the final candidate list for the Central Committee after
two days of consultations with congress delegates. China Central
Television showed Hu and other leaders raising their hands in
approval.
"The candidates' ideological and political qualities were relatively
higher," CCTV reported. "Their work experiences were relatively more
practical."