China after the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party: a citizen's perspective

The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) drew to a close last weekend in Beijing. As expected, President Hu Jintao was re-elected as general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPC and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Radio86 asked overseas Chinese Zhao Yinong what he thought about the new makeup of the Standing Committee and about what issues he, as a Chinese citizen, wishes the new leadership to address during the upcoming five-year period.

The election of a new Central Committee and Standing Committee takes place every five years at the massive National Party Congress, which this time grouped over 2,000 delegates from across China. The importance of the 204-member Central Committee is reflected by the fact that it appoints the members of the Political Bureau and its Standing Committee.

In this election, an unprecedentedly high number of new people were selected to serve in the Standing Committee and several long-standing veterans dropped out. Were you surprised by the election result?

For me, there was no big surprise. Some seasoned politicians like Wu Yi, and Zeng Qinghong were not appointed to the Committee, but the reason for that is their age. The maximum age for getting elected is 68. Of the newly elected members, I find Xi Jinping to be quite interesting. He is a controversial person because his father was the Vice Chairman of the People's Congress. In China, there is a lot of debate over whether the children of former leaders should be allowed to run for office, because they are likely to win votes more easily than others. I see Xi getting elected as a positive thing, because he is the only one there with this very special background and his election is based on his merit and talent alone, which shows that the system is developing into one that focuses on people's competence, not their family background. In the end, it is good for the Chinese people that the leadership is selected based on the candidates' own competence.

When asked about a potential successor for Hu Jintao, Zhao Yinong says that the Party will cross that bridge when it comes to it. All in all, the leadership is now concentrating on developing the election system and will leave announcing nominations of a future party leader to a later time, he says.

A lot is expected from the new Party leadership. What three things would you like to see tackled most urgently?

As a Chinese, I hope that the new leadership will be able to solve the following three problems. First, achieving equality, or fairness, in the society is a very important goal. China's economic reforms have made it possible for a small portion of the population to get very rich very quickly. Right now, China's has the second most millionaires in the world right after the US. This is good, but the gap between rich and poor is getting bigger. The living standards of the poorer population have improved, but a lot remains to be done. If a large portion of the population is left behind, the society has not succeeded in answering to the needs of the people, and China will never be a developed country. Fairness means that every member should get an opportunity to share in on the fruits of economic growth.

I also hope the new leadership will continue to promote sustainable development. More attention needs to be paid to environmental issues. This is not only a Chinese, but an international issue. The new leadership should also work on developing the political system, which includes stamping out corruption. The Party recently admitted that the situation is now worse compared to 25 years ago, and emphasized that this is a problem that should be dealt with effectively. As for the Taiwan issue, I hope the leaders will be able to find peaceful and satisfying solutions to the disputes weighing on the relationship with the mainland. This is important for the Chinese people.