Chinese President Hu Jintao, left, and Premier Wen Jiabao share a laugh at the end of the closing ceremony of the National People's Congress on Friday in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

Beijing ? Premier Wen Jiabao promised Friday to make China’s authoritarian political system more accountable to the people and sought to allay concerns about the country’s rising military power.

At his annual news conference, Wen displayed the earnest, sympathetic qualities that have made him the most popular member of a communist leadership largely comprised of colorless technocrats.

He recited poetry and the sayings of an ancient Chinese statesman to illustrate the people’s desire for social justice and Beijing’s wish for detente with regional rival Japan. Several times during the two-hour event, he pledged to better the lives of poor farmers and workers – who thus far have not shared in China’s stunning economic boom.

“The speed of the fleet is not determined by the vessel with the fastest speed but by the vessel traveling the slowest,” Wen said. “The well-being of the whole society cannot be improved unless the lives of the most vulnerable groups are improved.”

Even on foreign affairs, Wen played down any friction. A test of an anti-satellite weapon in January – in which a ground-launched missile shot down an orbiting Chinese weather satellite – was not a sign that Beijing wanted an arms race in space, he said. He repeated China’s call for an international convention banning weapons in outer space.

Hefty outlays for the armed forces, with the military receiving a nearly 18 percent increase this year, put China’s defense spending below that of most developed countries, the premier said.

Wen acknowledged the political system needs an injection of public accountability, especially to deal with endemic corruption by officials that has fed public anger and that he said was growing “more and more severe.”

He called for unspecified reforms that would create greater transparency in decision-making and curb abuse of power.