The
16th CPC Congress officially adopted the
Political Report presented by Jiang Zeming. The “Three
Represents”
concept proposed by Jiang in 2001 was officially incorporated into the Party
Constitution, to be on par with the thoughts of Marx, Lenin, Mao Zedong and
Deng Xiaoping. By this, Jiang attempted to establish his equivalent position in
the party’s
history.
The
Three Represents idea was first raised by Jiang on July 1, 2001, on the 80th anniversary of the CPC. The Three Represents was
supposed to require party members to “always represent the
development trend of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of
China's advanced culture and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming
majority of the Chinese people.” The Political Report gave a positive
description of the progress of China in the 13 years under Jiang’s
rule. It highlighted the figure of China’s GDP of 2001 to be
RMB 9,590 billion yuan, almost two times that of 1989, with an average annual
increase of 9.3%. China’s total economy has now risen from the 10th to the 6th in the world.
The report said that “overall, the people’s livelihood
has made a historic leap from subsistence to being well-off.”
The
so-called “well-off”
level, as explained by Zeng Yanpei, Director of the State Planning Commission ,
is still of a relatively low level, since China’s per capita GDP in
2000 was US$800, whereas that of medium level developed countries was US$2,000.
The rapid development of China’s economy has been premised on capitalist
logic, in search of profit and not the people’s need. Production
therefore has been anarchic, with over-production and factory closures, with
massive unemployment, impoverishment and social polarization.
China’s
unemployment is acute. Zeng Yanpei’s report to the National People’s
Congress meeting of March 2002 said the registered urban unemployment rate at
the end of 2001 was 3.6%: 6.85 million unemployed, as well as 5.15 million “stepped
down”
from state-owned enterprises, so the total was around 12 million. At the press
conference of the 16th CPC Congress, Zhang Zuoji, Minister of
Labour and Social Security, gave the figure as at September 2002 to be 7.52
million registered urban unemployment, with the rate being 3.9%. He admitted
that this did not include over 6 million stepped down workers. However, when
Zhu Rongji was on a visit to a foreign country, he said the unemployment figure
was 7%.[1] Anyway, Zeng Yanpei admitted that many
stepped down workers have not found a new job, 10 million graduates enter the
labour market every year, and in addition there is much surplus labour from the
countryside, hence the issue of unemployment is acute. Professor Xiao Zhuoji
from Peking University said that the actual urban unemployment rate is around
15-20%, which does not include the 100 million potentially unemployed rural
population; China’s
unemployment is the worst in the world.[2] Some experts estimated that in the coming
years, China’s
unemployment will reach 300 million.[3]
According
to the State Statistics Bureau’s recent sample survey on 4000 households
from 8 provincial municipalities, up to the end of June 2002, the lowest 10%
income households had a share of 1.4% of the assets of the interviewed
households, whereas the top 10% income households had a share of 45%; the
remaining 80% had a share of 53.6%. The average assets of an urban household
was valued at 228,000 yuan.[4]
The
disparity between urban and rural income is also growing. Officially the
average urban household had an income of 6,860 yuan, and the rural household
2,366 yuan. Qiu Xiaohua, Deputy Director of the State Statistics Bureau, said
the actual disparity should be 5:1 or even 6:1, instead of the official figure
of 3:1. He said, in 2001, the peasant’s real cash income per
month was 120 yuan,[5] which means the annual income was not even
1500 yuan. On the other hand, the average annual income of the population of
ten major cities was over 10,000 yuan, and in Shenzhen, it even approached
24,000 yuan. The same disparity happens between the eastern provinces and the
hinterland provinces. The State Statistics Bureau had it that up to 2001, the
Eastern region contributed 57.8% to China’s GDP, whereas it was
27.9% from the central region, and 14.3% from the western region.[6] In 2000, the per capita GDP of the eastern
region was US$1,400, but only USD800 for the western region which has about 30%
of China’s
population. About half of China’s 700-800 million rural population live in
poverty.
As
for China’s
political development, democratization has been thwarted after 1989, and
dissidents continue to be jailed or exiled. Workers and peasants fighting for
their rights of livelihood and for freedom of gathering and association have
also been suppressed. On the other hand, entrepreneurs and professionals have
benefited from the state’s support to the economic and social elite.
Private entrepreneurs, starting from July 2001, have been formally admitted to
be party members. According to a review article of the New York Times, private
enterprises now make up about one-third of China’s national
economy.[7] In Shanghai, there were, at the end of
September 2002, 220,000 private enterprises, employing 2 million workers.[8] In Jiangsu Province, non-state owned
enterprises comprise 41.7% of the economy, the per capita GDP of the province
for 2002 was expected to be 14,000 yuan. Of the 68 delegates from this province
to the 16th CPC Congress, over 10 were private
entrepreneurs.[9] Entrepreneurs are now gaining weight not
only as party members but also in the party leadership.
With
Jiang Zemin continuing to hold on to the position of the Chairman of the CPC
Central Military Commission and real power, the 16th
CPC Congress signals further politically reactionary and undemocratic
regression, and economic revisionism and opportunism. China’s
problems remain intense.
10
December 2002
[1] Hong Kong Economic Journal, 12 Nov 2002.
[2] Hong Kong Economic Times, 17 October 2002.
[3] Sing Tao Daily, 16 Nov 2002.
[4] Wen Hui Bao's reprint of Beijing Youth
Daily, 1 October 2002.
[5] Ming Pao, 22 October 2002.
[6] Hong Kong Economic Journal, 8 October 2002.
[7] Apple Daily 12 Nov 2002.
[8] Wen Hui Bao, 7 Nov 2002.
[9] Economic Daily, 11 Nov 2002.