Democracy News

Chinese Congressional Meeting Addresses Challenges for 2010
March 5th, 2010
By: Benjamin Russell | Printer Friendly

The annual plenary session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in China opened today with remarks from Premier Wen Jiabao. The premier, whose Annual Work Report covered everything from energy policy to economic targets for the coming year, also noted that government officials and policies had occasionally “fallen short of the people’s expectations,” according to the People’s Daily Online.

Some observers are looking to the plenary session to reveal how the Chinese government will tackle what the Sydney Morning Herald cites as an atmosphere of increasing unrest in the country.  According to Yu Jianrong, the country’s top social unrest expert and an adviser to several high-level government officials, the number of recorded incidents of ''mass unrest'' grew from 8,709 in 1993 to more than 90,000 in each of the past three years.

''For seeking 'bu zheteng' (pursuit of stability) we sacrifice reform and people's rights endowed by law … Such stability will definitely bring great social disaster,'' Yu said.

Others believe that the government’s preoccupation with maintaining stability could have positive effects on the country’s economic policy.  In a speech for Chinese net users last month, Premier Wen suggested that the government would need to focus on narrowing the gap between the country’s poor and its emerging middle class, noting that “if wealth in a society is concentrated in a minority of people, this society will be neither just nor stable."

The Wall Street Journal’s Willy Lam thinks that the premier’s use of the word “stable” is significant in this case, and may indicate that the “Party is starting to worry that if income inequality grows too wide it could lead to greater disaffection with Party rule.”

One particular source of economic frustration is the “hokou” system, which conditions state benefits and employment opportunities on area of residence.  The arrangement has come under harsh criticism from various civil society organizations.

 “[The System] chronically deprives migrant workers from the countryside social welfare protection such as the unemployment, medical, and education benefits that are guaranteed to registered urban residents,” according to a statement from Human Rights Watch. Further, thirteen Chinese newspapers took an unprecedented move of jointly publishing an editorial criticizing the hukou system, according to the Financial Times. 

The National People’s Congress, the supreme legislative body of China, opened the new legislative session on March 5, which remains strictly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.  The Economist reports that the powerless rubber-stamp legislature faces greater calls to act on corruption, income disparities and high housing costs.  In addition, the Chinese government announced today that it plans to relax the hokou system in small cities and towns.

Despite continued promises for reform, the mass unrest in China continues to grow and questions about the government’s ability to handle the pressure remain.

Sources:

People’s Daily Online – 3rd Plenary Session of 11th NPC

Wall Street Journal – China’s Congressional Concerns

The Sydney Morning Herald - China Insider Sees Revolution Brewing

Human Rights Watch – Letter to Premier Wen Jiabao Ahead of the NPC Annual Plenary Session

Washington Post – China Plans to Slow Expansion of Defense Spending in 2010