Beijing, Nov 6 (IANS): Over 1,400 journalists will be covering the upcoming 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a media report said Tuesday.

More than 1,000 foreign journalists worldwide have applied to cover the congress that begins Thursday here.

The Party congress has seen a significant hike in foreign reporters since 2007, when 744 foreign journalists from more than 300 news agencies were present.

As the twice-in-a-decade congress approaches, reporters began gathering here to cover the most important event of China's political calendar, reported Global Times.

"We welcome all foreign reporter applications, but due to space and resource restrictions we may need to further consider the number of press representatives allowed for each meeting," a media centre officer was quoted as saying.

The foreign journalists are keen to cover a wide range of topics beyond China's leadership change, ranging from environmental protection to economic restructuring and from cultural reform to food safety.

Yu Weiwei, with the Beijing office of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, is curious about how the general public view the congress.

"The major issues I'll be focusing on are the leadership transition and amendments to the Party Constitution. I'm also interested to learn more about China's future reforms, including fighting corruption and the declaration of officials' assets," said Yu.

"I want to find out how the life of the Chinese public has changed over the past five years. I have also been trying to contact some private entrepreneurs, who are also Party members, to share their thoughts about how they handle these two aspects of their lives," Yu told the Global Times Monday.