By Michael Wines
BEIJING ¡ª With great fanfare and rigid security, China on Wednesday launched its annual exercise in participatory democracy, socialist-style: the opening of the Chinese People¡¯s Political Consultative Congress, a 2,252-member body that advises Communist Party leaders on how to run the nation.
How much attention the leaders pay the congress is the topic of much outside speculation, and not a few jokes. But as its members streamed into Beijing for two weeks of meetings, the government ratcheted up security in the capital and turned the nation¡¯s media onto their deliberations in a manner befitting a national spectacle.
The meeting is one of two major political gatherings this month. The second and more important is the two-week session of the unelected 3,000-member legislature, the National People¡¯s Congress, which begins Friday. Together, the two meetings are the year¡¯s major political event.
If past meetings are any indication, the fortnight will be a hodgepodge of sober debate, extended evening parties and frenetic lobbying by groups attracted by the presence of 5,000 politicians in a single place.
The meetings boost Beijing¡¯s economy, said Hu Xingdou, a professor of economics and China issues at the Beijing Institute of Technology. ¡°Tens of thousands of representatives descend on the city,¡± he said. :They do a lot of shopping, spend a lot of money here.
¡°It really enforces the idea for Beijingers that Beijing is the political center of China. People are more political here. There is also pressure on Beijing, because all these delegates bring their expectations here, and they compare Beijing to all of their home cities and towns.¡±
The consultative congress delegates, many of them locally or nationally famous, range from actors to athletes to ex-government officials to Mao Xinyu, the grandson of China¡¯s first leader, Mao Zedong. Their official role is to advise party leaders on national policy, and major topics this time are expected to include official corruption, the economy and soaring real estate prices.
Many foreign scholars dismiss the congress as political window dressing. But the Communist Party sharply differs, saying its Politburo members and even President Hu Jintao meet regularly with delegates to the congress.
The nation¡¯s security establishment has thrown a cordon around the capital, and the official Xinhua news agency said police officers have been ordered to crack down on the transport of hazardous materials like fireworks, monitor crowds at major events like trade shows and ¡°get fully prepared to prevent stampedes and other accidents of high casualties.¡±
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