Marching in Place
China's Communist leader plans another five years without political reform.

Saturday, October 20, 2007; A14

CHINESE PRESIDENT Hu Jintao used the word "democracy" more than 60 times in his speech to the Chinese Communist Party's 17th National Congress this week -- which sounds impressive until it is noted that his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, used the word even more often at the 16th congress in 2002. Since then, there has been no change in China's totalitarian political system, despite the hopes that Mr. Hu at first inspired, and if this week's meeting in Beijing was any indication, none is intended for years to come. Mr. Hu will serve as president and party leader for another five years. Two possible successors expected to be named to the party Standing Committee in the next few days, Xi Jinping of Shanghai and Li Keqiang of Liaoning, used brief appearances before foreign journalists this week merely to mouth Mr. Hu's slogans about "scientific development."

Those slogans are not entirely empty. At a time when China's economy continues to grow at a breakneck pace, Mr. Hu is talking about the need to tend to the social disparities and environmental damage that are its side effects. While city dwellers on China's coast are prospering, many in the towns and farms of the interior have been left behind. Beijing and other cities are choked with smog while rivers fill with toxic chemicals. Corruption is endemic inside and outside of the party and government.

Mr. Hu is right to recognize these problems, but he proposes to tackle them without the tools that have proved most effective in the rest of the world -- which are those of a democratic society. Unfettered media can expose corruption, but Mr. Hu has led a crackdown on the Chinese media during his tenure. Competition in the form of elections for party and governmental posts can ensure accountability, but Mr. Hu has abandoned steps in that direction. The party congress itself symbolized the leadership's continued commitment to the hermetic and hidebound practices of the past. Secrecy and wooden orchestration marked the proceedings; political dissidents were swept up before the congress began. Newspapers were ordered to report only good news for weeks in advance.

For that reason, we suspect many ordinary Chinese must have appreciated the decision by the U.S. Congress and President Bush to honor the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, while the party congress was going on. Beijing fumed at having its pageant upstaged. But the White House meeting and the Congressional Gold Medal for the Dalai Lama ought to have been a reminder to Mr. Hu that he cannot ignore legitimate demands for human rights and political freedom without cost. In a way, China is fortunate: The Dalai Lama, like the democratic opposition in Hong Kong and the dissidents of Beijing, is moderate and compromise-seeking. If the Communist Party continues to ignore the need for political as well as economic reform, its future challenges may be less rational and peaceful.