Zhao Yinong worked for the local government in Beijing in the 1980s. His path has taken him to Finland, however, where he has resided for the better part of the last twenty years. As an overseas Chinese who visits China 7 to 8 times a year, he has a unique insight into both Chinese society and the way it is perceived in the West. Radio86 asks Mr. Zhao his views on the 17th National Congress.

Hu Jintao spoke of political reforms in his opening speech. Does this signal a new era of political openness or more democratic political system?

China has conducted this opening up policy for more than 30 years now. The economic reform has been quite impressive and so people can now focus on these political issues. The political institutes, in the end, will provide the basic frame for economic reform, they are linked to each other.

Hu Jintao in his speech has mentioned the term “political reform” many times, specifically mentioning “democracy” more than 60 times. I think China needs a lot of political reforms to cope with the very impressive economic reforms. Through reforms, they will solve certain issues they are facing, like corruption, the gap between rich and poor, unbalanced development in different regions, they are all somehow related with political reform. In my view, political reform is a genuine need, if they want to further develop the country and they want to prove their legitimacy as a ruling party.

That is one side of the story. In the West, there are scholars and researchers who have analyzed the situation and they have a calm and reasoned way to ask the questions about political reforms. However, there are people who have doubts about this, those who think that this is just a promotion of the Communists.

From my point of view, I think this is genuine. In the past 25 years, China has made lots of political reforms already. It has issued many new laws, regulations, administrative directives. They have even changed the constitution several times to meet the demands of economic freedom and expansion. Reform has been conducted all the time, but if people want overnight change, I don't believe that will happen. I don't even think that's the right way.

What is Hu Jintao's role now that he has been in power for five years? Is he still being influenced by his predecessor Jiang Zemin?

I was actually thinking who in China is the most powerful and influential, but then, as we all know, from the administrative point of view, the influence of the system is always bigger than an individual's.

People want to always focus on the individuals, but I prefer to look at the system. I think Hu Jintao is building the new generation of leadership, rooting it on the system rather than on individuals. Now, I think the system is more built up. But I think Hu Jintao is very important and the system has evolved from the personality cult under Mao to the more collective decision-making used today. That development has been very obvious.

If there is no Hu Jintao, there will be somebody else, and people will still ask if he's really in power. It's nothing personal. It's the system developing. He is the symbol, the center.

So, whether China opens up more is not dependent on who's the leader but on how the system works?

Absolutely. Today's China doesn't depend on one person and I don't believe Hu Jintao can turn everything around or make a quick jump. I don't believe that.. There's a system behind him. The system that he's representing now is more important. That should be the focus of the media, of researchers, scholars, to see if that system develops healthily.

What questions are ordinary Chinese waiting for the Communist party to resolve?

I think the answer to that depends where you're coming from. I'm not your typical Chinese, because I live abroad but I asked my parents, my sisters, ordinary people like taxi drivers and factory workers who live in China and their main concern, of course, is their well-being. They want to know if the economy is developing healthily, how long it will last, can the distribution of wealth be more fair. I think these are very important issues for ordinary Chinese.

Westerners might make more hypothetical assumptions, questions, because they don't live in China and the situation doesn't affect them. I think Chinese are more interested in policies that affect their lives. They want to know how the system will develop and how it will affect them.

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