BEIJING — Declaring reform “an eternal theme of history,” Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday his country needed to pursue “political restructuring” alongside economic growth to combat rising inequality and rampant corruption.
Speaking to reporters at the close of the annual session of China’s nominal legislature, Wen dismissed the idea that the country’s authoritarian system made it susceptible to the kinds of popular unrest roiling the Middle East and North Africa.
“We have followed the situation in (the Middle East) and North Africa,” Wen said. “It is not right to draw an analogy between China and those countries.”
But Wen, who has often been a lonely voice within the ruling Communist Party hierarchy advocating more openness, acknowledged that China had “weak economic foundations and uneven development.”
