Changes have been made to strengthen authoritarian rule, analysts believe
Few veteran overseas China-watchers hold out much hope for substantial reforms at the party's 17th National Congress next week, for all the talk of 'intra-party democracy'.
Many view the changes that the party has made in recent years, partly underlined by President Hu Jintao's ruling philosophy of 'sustainable development' and 'harmonious society', as adjustments to international and domestic demands with a view to extending its rule.
'I don't expect any substantial political reform. I expect it to stay as it is,' Andrew Nathan, a professor of political science at Columbia University, said of the congress.
But Professor Nathan, a leading China scholar and co-editor of the Tiananmen Papers, said that did not mean China remained static. The authoritarian rule that it practised survived by and was made more resilient by 'changing and adapting', he said.
In the political realm, he said: 'The party allows people individual freedom while maintaining repression of any challenge it views as threatening its hold on power, such as independent political, media, religious or trade union activity.
