The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is scheduled to begin on November 8th, 2012 at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing. It is the equivalent of national general elections where new leaders will be elected to serve in the Political Bureau (politburo). This will be China’s most significant meeting in 2012 as the Communist Party of China will begin the delicate process of replacing its top leadership. Formerly, China maintained a low key approach to this process; however, with its unprecedented increased strength, potential and importance to the entire world, major Chinese events have become major global events. Numerous important countries are changing their leadership in 2012 and China's 18th National Congress is among those attracting the most attention. China has become an important country with significant influence globally and its leadership transition is set to impact the whole world in different ways.The 18th Party Congress is worth our attention, and so is China after this Congress.
The National Congress is the highest leading body of the CPC together with the Central committee that is elected by it. The National Congress of the Party is held once every five years and convened by the Central Committee. The Central committee consists of twenty five leaders of the Political Bureau (politburo) and nine in the Politburo's all-powerful Standing Committee including the President and Premier at the highest levels. Due to age and term limit restrictions, seven of the nine members of the most important Politburo Standing Committee will be retiring. This includes current paramount Leader Hu Jintao, who will step down as the powerful party's General Secretary. The clear transition process has made the 18th national Congress of the CPC somewhat predictable and it is widely speculated that Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang will succeed Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao as top Politburo Standing Committee members and take over the Presidency and Premiership .
The 18th National congress will have 2270 delegates from 40 counties. Delegates represent provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. The People’s liberation army, the central party organization, the central government ministries and commissions, central state owned enterprises, and central banks and financial institutions are all represented.
The 18th National congress is set to highlight China’s potential and challenges to the entire party and the Chinese people, as well as conduct a thorough assessment of the party’s work over the past five years. The Party is expected to amend the constitution and make it comply with the common aspirations of the CPC and Chinese people of all ethnic backgrounds and regions. The leaders are keen to ensure it meets the development needs of socialism with Chinese characteristics and adapts to "new situations" and "new tasks". The Party has emphasized that it seeks to make use of this period in China's development, to advance innovation in theoretical terms and draw out guidelines and policies that respond to the call of the times and the people.
The CPC’s 18th National congress comes at a critical time for China and the entire world as the leadership it selects and the policies it adopts have a profound effect on the world’s second biggest economy, and most importantly, on its highly optimistic population. The Chinese people and the entire world have a lot of expectations from the CPC and they will be expecting the 18th National Congress of the CPC to show direction. It is an opportunity for China to have a frank discussion with both its people and the entire world. The CPC has sent signals of certainty, beaming with confidence and suggesting that the party and the government is in control of the country’s political and economic situations. It has promised to continue reform and opening up, gather strength, overcome difficulties, forge ahead on the socialist path of Chinese characteristics unswervingly and strive for the full establishment of a moderately prosperous society.
Since it became the ruling party in 1949, the CPC has weathered many storms, such as the self-inflicted Cultural Revolution (1966-76), but managed to restore China's economic strength in the global arena through reform and the introduction of a market economy. Despite the many challenges experienced over the last Sixty-three years, China has successfully addressed those challenges under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and has made enormous achievements in social and economic development. The past decade has seen its best years, with China becoming the world's fastest growing economy, with an average annual growth of 10.7 percent from 2003 to 2011. The party, as the core of the Chinese political system, has accumulated vast experience in solving complex problems and it is the experience that has helped China to make such progress and advance in the right direction.
Without doubt, the Communist party of China will draw lessons from its past successes and failures and establish a future direction for the country through resolutions on ideology-building, political routes and personnel management as it has done from time to time. The party has conducted widespread consultations with the local people, experts and analysts both in China and around the world to get their thoughts on China's development. China understands that while maintaining the continuity of its policies, it must also adjust its relations with major powers, developing countries and neighboring countries according to the latest changes in the global situation as any change in China will inevitably affect the rest of the world in an era of economic globalization. Therefore, when the 18th National Congress of the CPC opens, people inside and outside China should closely watch the country's new leaders, as what they say and do may signal the beginning of great changes in China and the rest of the world.
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