Reform or perish, journal warns Communist Party
Influential journal calls on leaders to seize the moment as China is facing a choice between openness or stagnation and a certain dead end
The Communist Party's top theoretical journal, Qiushi (Seeking Truth), has made an appeal for reform - including long-stalled political reform - as the party prepares for its 18th national congress next month.
Headlined "Sparing No Effort in Pushing Ahead with Reform and Openness", the long article said China was standing on a historical threshold and "stagnation or turning back would be a dead end".
It called on the government to seize the moment to advance comprehensive reform in all areas, and "actively press ahead with restructuring of the political system and develop socialist democracy".
The article, published in yesterday's edition, is seen as reiteration of a keynote speech by president and party chief Hu Jintao to senior central and provincial officials at the Central Party School on July 23, which many analysts said set the tone for the party congress, which will see a once-a-decade leadership transition.
Some analysts said the article and a series of recent speeches by top leaders suggested some consensus among the leadership on the need for further reform under the next generation of leaders.
"The article might reflect a certain consensus on the future direction among leaders as it has been published just weeks ahead of the party congress," said Zhang Ming , a political scientist at Renmin University.
The article began by saying: "Our country's rapid development in the past 30 years has been due to reform and the opening up policy and our country's future will continue to unwaveringly depend on this."