Nation is on the right path to more success
By Lau Nai-keung (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-13 07:23

The annual meetings of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) mark the beginning of another term of government to implement the policy direction set down by the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China last autumn.

After three decades of reform and opening up, and the accompanying rapid development, many problems have arisen - social, political, and environmental - that need to be addressed. The Party congress made a paradigm shift to Scientific Outlook on Development. As General Secretary Hu Jintao put it: "In the scientific view of development, the number one basic principle is development, the core value is people-oriented, the basic requirements are comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable, and the fundamental method is overall planning and all round consideration."

Economic development is for the welfare of the people especially in the areas of education, creation of employment through innovation and entrepreneurship, fair distribution to raise the living standards of the lower income groups, social security, and medical care. China is now willing to sacrifice GDP growth for the general welfare of its people.

The NPC and CPPCC meetings, apart from their mandatory functions, can be regarded as a 5,000-member strong focus group of opinion leaders. It is a concentrated expression of comments and suggestions, which is all the more important during the conclusion of what can only be described as a period of spectacular success, and the beginning of another stage of development where social justice, human development and environmental conservation are as important, if not more important than economic development.

The country is now in completely uncharted waters, and how to go about it, the comments and advice of this elite group are especially important.

To create a more effective institutional framework to implement the new paradigm, the State Council will be reorganized into fewer but bigger units, and the proposal is being discussed by the NPC. The most welcome move relates to upgrading the environmental protection body to a ministry. In the spirit of gradualism and harmony, however, the reform can only be described as mild. The Ministry of Railways, for example, still maintains its own identity apart from the newly formed Ministry of Transport. Reforms in the financial sector are minimal. But one thing is for sure, change is in the air, and this is the direction to go.

The more immediate concerns are still issues related to the economy. With a worldwide recession lurking on the horizon, and concerted international pressure to appreciate the yuan, China's export growth is expected to slow down this year. Internally, tightening measures are still in force to cool the economy, especially the real estate and stock markets. More stringent labor and environmental measures have also been enforced. Consumer prices are rising, especially in food and energy.

All these factors put together will lead to slower growth this year, in the region of 8 percent. Many people fear the situation will degenerate into that of a stagflation.

After 20 years of high growth and stable prices, this is something quite uncomfortable to the people, and it might increase the risk of social instability. This will add more challenges to the renewed emphasis on social justice in the new paradigm of scientific development and a harmonious society.

Our NPC deputies and CPPCC members have a lot to offer by way of thousands of proposals to alert the government of the problem areas and to suggest ways and means to remedy them. These proposals will be channeled to related ministries which are required to answer to the satisfaction of their sponsors. From my previous 20 years' experience as a CPPCC member, proposals are a very effective means of getting our voices heard, and ultimately, results.

Last year, government revenue was 723.9 billion yuan ($101.9 billion), or some 30 percent, more than budgeted. The NPC stipulated that most of the excess income will be set aside and put into a stabilization fund under its direct control. A more proper system of checks and balances, a concept considered as heresy in the past, is now quietly taking shape. As the supreme body representing the people, the NPC is flexing its muscles as conferred by the Constitution. Nobody can ever accuse the NPC as a rubber-stamping organ anymore.

Another trend that deserves attention is the open expression of different opinions by different groups at the meetings. The allegedly richest woman in China, Zhang Yin, a CPPCC member, proposed amendments to the newly enforced labor legislation. This sparked heated debate at the meetings as well as on the Internet, which is likely to continue well after the NPC and CPPCC meetings. This is quite unusual in China where debates used to be behind closed doors and cloaked in very polite language.

Conflict resolution in an increasingly pluralistic society to attain social harmony is an area under exploration in the country. The issue itself is very Chinese, and I am sure the model that evolves will also bear very strong Chinese characteristics.

How the government is dealing with the current socio-economic problems is to a very large extent reflected in the budget tabled before the NPC for approval. This year, the presentation of the budget is much more readable, with more tables and charts. In particular, government expenditure on agriculture and the rural community, one of the government's stated top priorities, is now listed separately. It showed a big jump of 30.3 percent to 130.7 billion yuan from last year.

Expenditure on education rose 45.1 percent to 156.2 billion yuan, medical and health 25.2 percent to 83.2 billion yuan, social security 24.2 percent to 276.2 billion yuan, and on environmental protection 31.4 percent to 102.7 billion yuan.

Clearly there has been a big shift in government resource allocations, reflecting its new priorities. This is an unmistakable indication that China is embarking in a new direction. The rate of GDP growth is one thing, but it is the quality of growth, and the overall welfare it brings that matters. After all, and in a socialist society, economic development is not an end in itself. If not for the welfare of the people, it is meaningless.

The author is a member of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Basic Law Committee of the NPC Standing Committee

(China Daily 03/13/2008 page9)