In a year when the mainland's growth continued at breakneck speed, and there was a growing global backlash against tainted Chinese exports and an outcry over the slavery of brick-kiln workers, it was the October meeting of political chiefs in Beijing that provided the landmark event of the calendar.
The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party in Beijing was the defining political event of the year, providing a glimpse of the power elite who would run the nation five years from now. But rather than any bold changes, analysts said, the congress emphasised the belief that a minor tinkering with the existing political templates was best to continue China's prosperity and reinforce Beijing's authoritarian role.
Canada-based China scholar Bruce Gilley said 2007 marked a year of growing pessimism about prospects for a more liberal China. For better or for worse, the world's fastest-growing economy has become more assertive about charting
its own course for development, as it becomes more confident in its role as a rising global power.
The 17th National Congress marked a return of the great debate about where next China's reforms should take the country. In the lead up to the five-yearly conclave, 'democracy' turned out to be one of the hot topics, in which a clash of ideologies within the party reached fever pitch and spilled over into the public sphere. China, entering its 29th year of economic reforms and opening up, had no shortage of leftists howling about socialism going astray. But a few brave voices did get their point across, with one impassioned call from a party veteran for a Scandinavian-style democracy in China.
Political science professor at Boston University, Joseph Fewsmith, said the biggest political event in China for the past five years had strongly reaffirmed the status quo. If anything, observers said, double-digit economic growth seemed to have provided all the incentives for the ruling elite not to seek political liberalisation. Beijing now looks surer than ever to continue the double game it's been playing for nearly three decades: maintaining a fast-growing capitalist economy within the framework of one-party rule.
