Premier Says China Must Aid Jobless or Expect Unrest
washingtonpost.com
By John Pomfret
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, March 5, 2003; Page A13
BEIJING, March 5 (Wednesday) -- Prime Minister Zhu Rongji warned today that urban and rural unrest among China's dispossessed could threaten the foundations of Communist Party rule in China.
Zhu's warning came as China opened the annual meeting of its legislature, the National People's Congress, which this year will anoint a new government, including a new president, prime minister, and foreign and defense ministers.
"We should do everything possible to increase farmers' income and lighten their burden," he told the 2,984 lawmakers gathered in the Great Hall of the People. If farmers' livelihoods did not improve, he said, it "may even threaten the overall health of the national economy."
In his final report after five years at the helm of China's government, Zhu also gave a glowing evaluation of his tenure, calling China's achievements "extraordinary." He predicted that China's economy would grow 7 percent this year.
"These were years of social stability, ethnic solidarity and rising international influence," Zhu said.
"Development is the fundamental principle and the key to resolving all problems China is facing," he added, effectively ruling out the need for systemic political reform, which many here believe is the only road to building a modern nation.
Zhu's report kicked off a legislative session that will oversee the largest governmental transition in a decade. Many senior officials -- including Zhu, President Jiang Zemin and the chief of the legislature, Li Peng -- will step down after the two-week session.
Decisions on their replacements were made during Communist Party gatherings that began in November. Wen Jiabao, a vice premier, is expected to replace Zhu. The new Communist Party chief, Hu Jintao, is to be named president, and Wu Bangguo, another vice premier, is expected to replace Li.
Jiang, however, is expected to lead China's military as chairman of the Central Military Commission, which would allow him to exert influence over the country's direction.
The departure of Zhu, a 75-year-old engineer who was once forced to live in a cow shed for alleged political crimes, marks the end of an era for China. The premier was a popular favorite because of his reputation for being incorruptible and intolerant of incompetence.
As a vice premier in the early 1990s, Zhu cooled China's overheated economy, successfully controlled inflation and set China on a path to steady economic growth. During his years as premier, he helped China weather the Asian financial crisis, a downturn in the global economy and weak domestic demand by pursuing a policy of fiscal stimulus, pouring $2.09 trillion into the economy, a move that generated China's first budget deficit.
Under his leadership, Zhu said today, China's gross domestic product grew 37 percent, its foreign-exchange reserves climbed to $286.4 billion, foreign trade hit $620.8 billion, and China now has 421 million phone lines, making it the world leader.
Zhu also committed China to pursuing more capitalist-style reforms that have transformed the economy of this country.
Zhu's reputation among Chinese began souring in 1999, when a visit to the United States failed to result in an agreement on the terms of China's accession to the World Trade Organization. Zhu was accused of selling out China, even though Beijing entered the WTO in 2001.
Other issues also bedeviled the premier. Foremost was China's inability to halt official corruption and close the gap between rich and poor. Then there was the party's failure to undertake political reforms and the breakdown of its move to reform stumbling state-owned enterprises. Finally, Zhu's administration did not deal with China's bankrupt banking sector, and his policy of fiscal stimulus could create huge debt |
