China to talk business at party congress

According to President Jiang Zemin's "Theory of the Three Represents," the party must represent the "most advanced productivity"

(CNN) -- Whether private businessmen will be inducted into the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) ruling Central Committee has become a focus of attention of the upcoming 16th party congress.

Party authorities have announced that all 2,120 delegates to the Congress have been picked, and that they have been asked to exercise "inner-party democracy."

A major task of the delegates is to elect about 200 full, and 150 alternate, or second-tier, Central Committee members.

State media on Monday reported that the delegates, 91.7% of whom are college-educated, possessed an "advanced nature and broad representation."

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While 75.7% of the delegates are cadres, 24.3% come from occupations and professions including business, technology and education.

Party sources said in an unprecedented development, a dozen odd members of the "new classes" of private businessmen and professionals had been picked as congress delegates.

They said it was possible that for the first time in Communist-Chinese history, a few private businessmen, for example, former cadres who had turned to business, might become either full or alternate Central Committee members.

The official Xinhua news agency reported that the delegates had been asked to cast their votes taking as criteria the "advanced nature" of the candidates and whether they represent the interests of the people.

Focus on productivity

According to President Jiang Zemin's "Theory of the Three Represents," the party must represent the "most advanced productivity," and a number of official scholars have argued that it is private businessmen who exemplify such productivity.

Another focus of attention concerning the 16th congress is the degree of freedom that the delegates will have in picking Central Committee members.

In congresses held since the 1980s, delegates have been given a list of candidates by party authorities.

However, there is a "margin of elimination" as the candidates outnumber the seats available by 5 to 10%.

Party insiders say an indication of whether Jiang and heir apparent Hu Jintao may push political reform after the congress is whether they may increase the margin of elimination beyond 10%.

Jiang is tipped to address the issue of political reform, including "inner party democracy" in his Political Report to the Congress.