Thu 10 Oct 2007A new vision needed for ChinaChina's Communist Party congress, meeting this week for the 17th
time, has two broad purposes: to choose leaders and set out broad
policies for the next five years. These are daunting tasks for the
2,200 delegates representing 73 million members in a country with
one-fifth of the world's population.China's runaway economic growth, widening inequalities,
widespread corruption and environmental degradation belie the party
leadership's invocation of harmonious development and will
undermine its capacity to govern unless tackled directly between
now and the next congress in 2012.