China's leaders faced fresh calls for freedom of speech on Friday after group of 100 scholars, journalists and lawyers published an open letter demanding the release of Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo.
The letter calls for the immediate release of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo
The letter was released as the Communist Party's top leadership gathered in Beijing for its secretive annual meeting to discuss the country's future direction, including a new five-year economic plan for 2011-2015.
The latest open letter is part of renewed turbulent debate in China about whether the current regime of draconian censorship implemented by a ruling party can provide a sustainable future for China.
Earlier this week, following the award of the Nobel peace prize to the dissident Liu Xiaobo, the ruling Communist Party was further embarrassed when a group of 23 Party elders warned the Party would "die a natural death" if did not give people basic rights.
China's leadership has furiously rebuffed calls for reform, attacking the Nobel Prize committee for awarding the peace prize to "a criminal" and printing newspaper editorials accusing Western nations of waging an ideological war against China.
However the Party is facing pressure not just from Western democratic governments, but also from within, as the latest letter praised the Nobel committee and called for the immediate release of Mr Liu and all political prisoners in China.
"China should join the mainstream of civilised humanity by embracing universal values," the letter said, "Such is the only route to becoming a 'great nation' that is capable of playing a positive and responsible role on the world stage." The increasingly bold calls for reform in academic and dissident circles are not expected to have an immediate impact on the Party leadership.
Analysts will be watching to see if China's new five-year-plan contains measures to speed up the rebalancing of China's economy by stimulating domestic demand as China faces growing calls to revalue its currency and wean itself off its reliance on exports.
Political watchers will also be looking for signs that vice-president Xi Jinping, the heir-apparent to current Chinese president Hu Jintao, is still on track to take over the reins of power in 2013.
In a further indication of the pressure for reform that Mr Xi could face when he takes power, China's internet has seized on a blog post by Mr Xi's former doctoral supervisor arguing that the party's refusal to submit to any checks and balances is causing the "social decay" of China.
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