[He
also pledged to improve citizens’ lives, including offering “better schooling,
more stable jobs, more satisfying incomes, more reliable social security,
higher levels of health care, more comfortable housing conditions and a more
beautiful environment,” so they can “look forward to their children growing up
in better circumstances, finding better work and living in better conditions.” ]
By Ian Johnson
 |
Peter Parks/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Passengers on a Shanghai subway on Thursday watch Xi Jinping deliver his first
speech as China’s new leader. More Photos »
|
BEIJING
— China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, impressed many people with a
plain-spoken promise to address problems in the country’s ruling party on
Thursday, but his new leadership team offered few clues as to a clear shift in
direction.
Mr.
Xi, who formally took over from Hu Jintao as
general secretary of the Communist Party on Thursday, was presented to foreign
and domestic reporters after a highly scripted party congress intended mainly
to laud the work of Mr. Hu and set very broad priorities for Mr. Xi’s tenure.
According
to tradition, Mr. Xi appeared onstage the day after the congress ended with
other members of the party’s Politburo Standing Committee, the seven-member
body that effectively runs China.
Mr.
Xi then gave a speech on live television that avoided most of the slogans that
characterized Mr. Hu’s recent addresses. In fact, he did not mention Mr. Hu or
any of his predecessors, instead calling on the party to fight corruption and
promising to continue China’s “rejuvenation.”
“Inside
the party, there are many problems that need be addressed, especially the problems
among party members and officials of corruption and taking bribes, being out of
touch with the people, undue emphasis on formalities and bureaucracy and other
issues,” Mr. Xi said.
He
also pledged to improve citizens’ lives, including offering “better schooling,
more stable jobs, more satisfying incomes, more reliable social security,
higher levels of health care, more comfortable housing conditions and a more
beautiful environment,” so they can “look forward to their children growing up
in better circumstances, finding better work and living in better conditions.”
“People’s
striving for a better life is the goal we are struggling for,” he added.
Reflecting
his upbringing as the son of a high-ranking official in Beijing, Mr. Xi spoke
in clear Mandarin Chinese, making him one of the first modern Chinese leaders
whose speech does not bear the heavy accents of an upbringing in one of China’s
provinces.
Mr.
Xi takes office with more titular authority than any Chinese leader in history.
He will now be the chief of the ruling Communist Party and will take over
sooner than expected from Mr. Hu as the chairman of the Central Military
Commission, the top overseer of China’s armed forces. Next spring, he will
assume the position of state president. Other leaders in the post-Mao era have
had more staggered transitions into the top posts.
Even
so, Mr. Xi will have to contend with numerous other well-connected princelings,
or sons and daughters of influential past leaders, and a factionalized
Communist Party that tends to operate by consensus rather than strongman rule.
He is unlikely to have the sweeping authority of Mao or Deng Xiaoping.
Although
Mr. Xi’s appointment has been expected since 2007, when he was essentially
named Mr. Hu’s successor, it was the first chance for the Chinese to see him in
action. Li Zhong, a retired county leader in Hebei Province who served there at
the same time as Mr. Xi in the early 1980s, noted that Mr. Xi had not repeated
many of Mr. Hu’s slogans.
“Instead,
he stressed the party’s responsibilities to the masses and the heroism of the
people, as well as the need to root out corruption in the party,” Mr. Li said.
“He was very frank and showed his consideration for the people.”
His
speech was also widely discussed on China’s social media sites, which largely
reflect an educated urban population.
He
Bing of the University of Political Science and Law in Beijing wrote on the
Weibo microblog, “He speaks with a human touch.”
Others
were more critical.
“I
read Xi’s speech,” Jian Heng, a guest professor at Shantou University in
Guangdong Province, wrote on Weibo. “He mentioned the word ‘party’ 20 times;
‘people’ appeared 19 times; ‘responsibility’ was said 10 times and ‘problems’
three times. Didn’t use anything related to law. No ‘law,’ no ‘constitution,’
no ‘rule of law’ nor ‘democracy,’ no ‘freedom.’ ”
No
one can know for sure whether Mr. Xi favors fundamental political changes of
that kind — he has given no clear indication that he does. What is clear is
that his fellow members of the Standing Committee are longtime party veterans
whose track records provide no evidence of a strong impulse to change the way
China is governed, and whose ages means they will probably have relatively
short careers in the country’s top ruling body.
Mr.
Xi is 59 and his No. 2, Li Keqiang, who is expected to take control of the
bureaucratic apparatus of government as prime minister next spring, is 57. But
the other five members are all in their mid-60s. Under the party’s internal
rules, that means they are all likely to retire at the next party congress in
five years. Given the intensely consuming task of negotiating top leadership
slots among competing factions, finding suitable replacements for these five
could take up much of Mr. Xi’s time and political capital.
The
other members of the Standing Committee are Zhang Dejiang, 65, Liu Yunshan, 65,
Wang Qishan, 64, Yu Zhengsheng, 67, and Zhang Gaoli, 65.
“This
is quite a mediocre lineup, and we’ll have to wait and see what they do,” said
Pu Zhiqiang, a Beijing-based lawyer who often handles human rights cases. “The
way of Chinese politics means that their past performances don’t show what
they’ll do in the future.”
Another
problem is that the leadership reflects the strong hand of Mr. Hu’s
predecessor, Jiang Zemin. Although Mr. Jiang, 86, retired a decade ago, he has
close ties with at least four of the seven members. That means he was able to
override Mr. Hu and place his people in top slots even though he has no formal
position in the party.
“The
bad news from looking at the political system is that it really seems to have
thrown a wrench in our understanding of institutionalization,” said Joseph
Fewsmith, a professor at Boston University who specializes in Chinese politics.
“This whole institutional idea that people retire and then don’t play much of a
role seems to have been pretty well demolished.”
Mr.
Xi did keep one tradition, however. Like Mr. Hu, who gave almost no interviews
to foreign reporters during his 10 years in office, Mr. Xi left without taking
any questions from the scores of waiting journalists.
Jonathan
Ansfield contributed reporting, and Shi Da contributed research.
[But
its revenue missed analysts’ predictions. It rose 3.4 percent, to $113.2
billion, compared with expectations of $114.96 billion. The company said that
without currency fluctuation, sales would have been $114.9 billion. Sales at
stores open at least a year in the United States grew 1.5 percent, a little
less than analysts had projected. ]
Wal-Mart disclosed on
Thursday that it has expanded an internal investigation into bribery
accusations in Mexico to Brazil, China and India.
The
company acknowledged the expanded inquiry in a Securities and Exchange
Commission filing that accompanied its third-quarter financial results, which
showed lower sales than analysts had expected.
Wal-Mart
had previously reported that the audit committee of its board was examining
possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Mexico.
“Inquiries
or investigations regarding allegations of potential F.C.P.A. violations have
been commenced in a number of foreign markets where we operate, including but
not limited to Brazil, China and India,” the company said in its regulatory filing.
Wal-Mart’s
shares were down about 3.5 percent in midday trading.
The
New York Times reported in
April that seven years ago, Wal-Mart had found credible evidence
that its Mexican subsidiary had paid bribes, a violation of the Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act, and that an internal investigation into the matter had been
suppressed by executives at the company’s Arkansas headquarters.
The
company has had teams of lawyers looking into the Mexico issue and potential
violations of the law elsewhere. In the filing, the company said it had
“identified or been made aware of” other potential violations. “When such
allegations are reported or identified, the Audit Committee and the company,
together with their third party advisers, conduct inquiries and when warranted
based on those inquiries, open investigations,” it said.
Wal-Mart
suggested in May that the investigation had broadened, but
Thursday’s filing with the S.E.C. was the first time it has specified the other
countries it is looking into.
The
S.E.C. and the Justice Department have opened investigations into the Mexico
matter, and Wal-Mart said it is cooperating with them. Charles M. Holley Jr.,
Wal-Mart’s chief financial officer, declined to comment Thursday on whether the
agencies are looking into countries other than Mexico.
“As
you would expect with these matters, because they’re under review, it would be
inappropriate for me to comment on specific matters until the investigation is
concluded,” he said.
The
company spent $99 million in the first nine months of the year in expenses
related to the matter, like complying with subpoenas, defending itself against
shareholder lawsuits and conducting the review.
The company exceeded third-quarter
earnings expectations by a penny a share, reporting profit of $3.63
billion, or $1.08 a share, compared with $3.33 billion, or 96 cents a share, in
the period a year earlier.
But
its revenue missed analysts’ predictions. It rose 3.4 percent, to $113.2
billion, compared with expectations of $114.96 billion. The company said that
without currency fluctuation, sales would have been $114.9 billion. Sales at
stores open at least a year in the United States grew 1.5 percent, a little
less than analysts had projected.
In
recorded statements, Wal-Mart executives indicated even middle-income consumers
were under increasing pressure. At the company’s Sam’s Club division, a warehouse
club that attracts a higher-income shopper than Walmart stores, shoppers are
starting to swap out steak for pork, for instance, because it is cheaper.
The
company said Hurricane Sandy had cost
it about $35 million in damaged inventory and cleanup costs but had not
significantly affected its ability to get merchandise to stores.
