The 16^th 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 80^th 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 10^th to the 6^th 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 16^th 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 16^th 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 16^th CPC Congress signals further politically reactionary and undemocratic regression, and economic revisionism and opportunism. China’s problems remain intense.

10 December 2002

[2] Hong Kong Economic Times, 17 October 2002.

[4] Wen Hui Bao's reprint of Beijing Youth Daily, 1 October 2002.

[6] Hong Kong Economic Journal, 8 October 2002.

The 16th CPC Congress steered by Jiang Zemin Zhang Kai

The 16^th CPC Congress steered by Jiang Zemin Zhang Kai