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Hu warns of corruption as key Chinese leadership meeting begins

By the CNN Wire Staff

November 8, 2012 -- Updated 0358 GMT (1158 HKT)

How China's leadership is chosen

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Thousands of delegates gather in Beijing for the meeting
• The congress will usher in a new set of leaders
• Hu Jintao is expected to pass the top party job to Xi Jinping
• The key meeting follows a year beset by scandal for the party

(CNN) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao, set to begin handing over power to his successor, warned Thursday that corruption could bring down China's ruling Communist Party and the state it controls.

Hu was speaking at the party's 18th National Congress in Beijing, a key meeting of top officials that will usher in a new set of leaders of the world's most populous nation. He is expected to hand over the party's top job to Vice President Xi Jinping.

"If we fail to handle this issue well, it could prove fatal to the party, and even cause the collapse of the party and the fall of the state," Hu said of corruption during his speech at the start of the congress, according to the state-run news agency Xinhua.

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His comments stood out in light of the huge political scandal that has rocked the party this year. The controversy involved the former high-flying politician Bo Xilai who is now under criminal investigation after being ousted from his posts and the party itself.

More than 2,200 delegates from across China are gathering for the Congress, and they in turn select the 200-plus members of the party's Central Committee, who in turn appoint the Politburo and ultimately the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee -- the country's decision-makers. But most, if not all, of the outcomes are predetermined.

The congress itself meets every five years. It is designed to assess the country's progress, and set new directions. Every 10 years it selects the new leadership.

This year, the legacy of the Hu years is under the microscope. Under Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao, China's economy has continued to grow, lifting tens of millions of people out of poverty.

China is now the world's second-biggest economy and closing fast on the United States. But there have been disappointments and discontent along the way, and Hu's much vaunted "harmonious society" is showing signs of cracking.

Chinese leaders have endured a tumultuous year. The veil of secrecy around the party has been lifted, with reports of rifts and infighting. And the fall of Bo brought about China's biggest political scandal in decades.

Bo, once party chief of the massive metropolis of Chongqing, is now in disgrace awaiting trial. His wife, Gu Kailai, is in prison, convicted of murdering a British business associate.

Senior party leaders and their leaders have had to deal with unusual scrutiny of their affairs, with Western news organizations publishing investigations into the wealth accumulated by the families of Xi and Wen.

Chinese authorities responded to the reports by blocking the websites of the news organizations involved: Bloomberg News and The New York Times. But China's army of censors is having to grapple with the rapid rise of social media platforms on which information moves and mutates at a dizzying pace.

China is treading many fault lines: a widening gap between rich and poor, rising unrest about issues like pollution and land seizures, and a slowing economy that some say is in need of serious reform.

CNN's Stan Grant contributed to this report.