BEIJING: China's top leaders’ marked national day Saturday with an appearance on Tiananmen Square in central Beijing after Prime Minister Wen Jiabao pledged greater "democracy" and rights for the people.
President Hu Jintao, Wen and top Communist Party leaders descended on the vast square and bowed before the monument to revolutionary martyrs, as they marked the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
In a speech Friday night, Wen pledged to address China's biggest social issues, including rising inflation, a yawning income gap, unemployment, food safety, corruption, environmental destruction and social injustice.
"We will make great efforts to guarantee and perfect democracy and resolve the problems that most concern the people and that most directly involve their interests," Wen said in the speech posted Saturday on government websites.
"We will make great efforts to advance the opening and reform and continue to push forward economic, political, cultural and social system reform. We will make great efforts to safeguard social justice, and ensure the people's democratic rights and judicial fairness."
But by "democracy", China's Communist leaders do not mean multi-party competition for power at the ballot box, generally referring instead to discussions within the ruling elite.
During his speech, Wen insisted that the nation would adhere to "socialism with Chinese characteristics," code for the one-party dictatorship's refusal to countenance the separation of powers seen in governments around the world.
Wen has repeatedly pledged to advance democracy and human rights in China even as his government has cracked down on any sign of unrest since jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize a year ago.
The crackdown further intensified in February, with leading activists and rights lawyers disappearing into police custody without being charged amid anonymous Internet calls for Arab style protests in China.
Wen's remarks also come as the nation's parliament deliberates amendments to the criminal code that will allow police to secretly detain suspects for up to six months without charges and without notifying their families.
Activists and rights group have loudly decried the amendments as a blatant violation of human rights.
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