Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (970)	10/10/2003 5:49:24 AM
From: BubbaFred	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

China Communists to Plan Economic, Political Reform Fri October 10, 2003 04:09 AM ET By Scott Hillis BEIJING (Reuters) - As a "taikonaut" prepares to go where none of China's 1.3 billion people has gone before, the country's communist rulers will confront more earthly challenges such as a swelling rich-poor gap and private property rights. Problems thrown up by China's ambitious 25-year-old reforms, and others that the reforms have yet to tackle, will top the agenda at a four-day conclave of the powerful Communist Party Central Committee beginning Saturday. The Third Plenum, bringing China's 198 most influential politicians to Beijing, will end one day before China is expected to become just the third nation to launch a manned spacecraft, an event the party is sure to trumpet as a major accomplishment. In addition to addressing a rich-poor gap that is emerging as a major threat to social order and approving landmark protections for private property, the leaders may also discuss political issues such as a modest expansion of grassroots democracy. Communist Party chief Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are on record with their desire to promote plans on how to put China's breakneck economic growth on a more sustainable footing. The economy is on track to grow by a heated eight percent this year, but many are being left behind in a rush to get rich as coastal provinces race ahead of poorer inland ones, and cities boom while the countryside stagnates. The problem has existed for years as China has followed the maxim of late leader Deng Xiaoping, the architect of economic reform, that some should get rich faster than others. Economists say the disparity has sharpened in recent years, and Wen has repeatedly pledged to find new ways to make sure everyone taps into China's boom. INJECTING FLEXIBILITY "Some systems, such as those governing state firms, land and the countryside, were all established under a central planned economy and have hardly been touched upon in the reform era," said Zhao Xijun, an economist and People's University in Beijing. "The leadership realizes that it is time to let some of the key resources, such as land and labor, flow freely in line with greater demand from the market economy," Zhao said. This year, China gave individuals the right to lease land for 30 years, giving rural residents a more solid basis to start a business or making farming more efficient. The plenum could bolster property protection with the first amendments to China's constitution in four years via passages giving unprecedented protection to private business, which Beijing is counting on to drive growth and create jobs. China has not publicly discussed any amendments, but analysts said one would give legal protection to private property. Closing the wealth divide will touch on issues such as how to breathe new life into reforms, reignite a stalled overhaul of state-run firms and revive scandal-tainted stock markets. The meeting may also touch upon interest rate reforms, which have lagged despite much high-level discussion, and a plan to turn state-owned banks into joint-stock entities while cutting bad loan ratios, state media have said. Economic issues will take center stage, but political reform may also be raised. Hu used China's October 1 National Day holiday to burnish his man-of-the-people credentials with a call for expansion of "socialist democracy" and more citizen participation in politics. Villages across China already hold elections featuring multiple candidates, and there has been talk of extending those to townships or counties eventually. However, the party has consistently ruled out any move to Western-style democracy. Urging "active and steady promotion of political system reform," Hu's comments reflect an ambition to make the party's process of picking its own officials more democratic, analysts say. reuters.com