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SCMP Reporter

President Jiang Zemin yesterday staked his claim as a reformer in the Deng Xiaoping mould.

  In one of the most liberal speeches of his career, Mr Jiang said the party must 'deepen reform to eradicate obstacles to productivity'.

  The party chief vowed to follow in Deng's footsteps by developing a socialist market economy where 'multiple elements' - including private enterprises - would be allowed to prosper.

 He also hinted that China would develop a 'multi-faceted, multi-dimensional open-door policy', to absorb 'all the advanced fruits of civilisation' from developed countries, including the capitalist world.

  For the first time, the party General Secretary gave an unconditional thumbs-up to Deng's nanxun, or 'imperial tour of southern China'.

  This is despite the fact that, for several months after Deng visited Guangdong and other provinces in early 1992, the President expressed reservations about his bold teachings.

  Party observers in Beijing said they were surprised Mr Jiang had cited a number of Deng's radical nanxun dictums.

  They included 'only [fast-paced] development passes the test of reason'; and that any policy should be adopted if it brings the 'threefold benefits' of raising productivity, boosting overall national strength and improving living standards.

  The edicts, Mr Jiang said, provided 'an in-depth theoretical answer to many major cognitive issues which had long trammelled people's thinking'.

  These remarks are in contrast to his internal speeches over the years in which Mr Jiang, long considered a neo-conservative, stressed that Deng's market zeal must be tempered by re-centralisation and 'macro-level adjustments and controls'.

  Analysts said Mr Jiang could be repositioning himself towards the 'right' - or market-oriented - end of the political spectrum so as to co-opt Deng's supporters.

  Moreover, Mr Jiang wanted to slam leftists such as ideologue Deng Liqun, who had circulated a 20,000-character manifesto savaging Deng's reforms.

  Mr Jiang also cited orthodox themes such as upholding the 'people's democratic proletarian dictatorship' and fostering spiritual civilisation.

  He praised the way in which Deng had dealt with 'political upheavals' in the communist world in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the 1989 pro-democracy movement.

  However, unlike Mr Jiang's other speeches on the subject, there were no hard-hitting attacks on 'bourgeois liberals' or stern rebukes against efforts by hostile foreign powers to turn China into a 'capitalist vassal'.

  While Mr Jiang mentioned only political reform in passing, he pledged to 'run the country according to the law'.



Party chief's surprise reformist stance at odds with past edicts