[A-List] Six Major Societal Relationships Challenge China

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

PRC Social Sciences Academy Issues Paper on Social
Conflicts Facing China in 2003

Zhongguo Xinwen She 04 January 2003
"New Year Outlook" article by staff reporter Li Peng:
"Six Major Societal Relationships Challenge China's
Future"

[FBIS Translated Text] Beijing, 4 Jan (ZXS)-- In
2002, the Chinese economy enjoyed sustained and fast
development and the social situation remained stable.
Looking ahead at the just-arrived 2003, the "Blue
Paper on Society: Analysis and Forecast of the State
of Chinese Society in 2003," recently published by the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
points out: In the coming period, China must handle
well the societal relationships in such areas as
income distribution and labor employment, in order to
ensure that the people from all social strata can
partake of the fruits of development on the basis of
economic development.

This blue paper on society maintains that although
the shocks and difficulties that China encountered
last year were not as serious as had been anticipated,
the employment and circulation mechanisms were unable
to fully adapt to the new circumstances, the
relationship between accumulation and consumption had
yet to be straightened out, and the conflicts and
pressure in respect of population, the entironment,
natural resources, and economic and social development
were increasingly prominent.

The experts also showed special concern over those
problems in Chinese society that were related to the
urban-rural gap, interregional gap, income gap, and
labor employment. The figures provided in the blue
paper indicate that there are still over 30 million
people in absolute poverty in rural China today and
the average income of close to 20 million people in
urban areas is still below the minimum livelihood or
even subsistence line. The oversupply of labor in
China each year is as much as 15 million.

This blue paper points out: The transformation
of China from low-level moderate prosperity toward an
all-round well-off society entails the deepening of
the understanding of development by various circles of
society and, as a natural consequence of that, the
diversification of demand. Therefore, the government
should pay special attention to handling well societal
relationships in the following six areas.

-- How should it guarantee the basic livelihood of
the impoverished masses, ease the unemployment
pressure on them, and gradually improve their living
conditions, at the systemic and structural levels?
How should it ensure the principle of social equality
in the process of redistribution, expand the
proportion of medium income earners, and increase the
income levels of low income earners?

-- How should it facilitate the orderly migration
of surplus labor in rural areas toward nonagricultural
industries and urban areas, by means of systems,
legislation, policies, and the media, while exploring
sustainable development in the vast rural areas and
protecting the basic rights and interests of farmers?

-- How should it avoid balanced [as received]
development of southeast regions and central and
western regions using the levers of talent, capital,
technology, policies, and systems, while avoiding
"social ills" and "urban ills" in regions enjoying
rapid economic development, such as degeneration of
social ethics and rampant corruption?

-- How should it prevent a new round of
impractical craze for big projects and fast
development under the excuse of fulfilling the goal of
building a well-off society in an all-round way, now
that this goal has been put forward? How should it
find a new approach to development that is science and
technology-rich, efficient in economic terms, low on
resource consumption, environment-friendly, and
capable of fully capitalizing on superior human
resources?

-- Regarding democratic decisionmaking and
disclosure of government affairs, how should it
introduce the system of democratized decisionmaking
and disclosure of government affairs, ensure the
checks
and balances and supervision on power in such respects
as decisionmaking and decision execution, and prevent
and overcome corruption at source and at the systemic
level?

-- In the field of ideological and moral
development of society, how should administration with
law and administration with ethics complement each
other and thereby balance the tension between the
principle of competition in the market economy and the
traditional moral principles?

[Description of Source: Beijing Zhongguo Xinwen She in
Chinese -- China's official news service for overseas
Chinese]


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