[PEN-L:6556] Separation of Power in Chinese Government

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

A piece of news that totally escaped Western media attention is the
defeat last October by the National People's Congress (NPC), by one
single vote, a proposal by the State Council to revise all  local
highway fees and taxes into a national gasoline tax.

The NPC did not approve Zhu's gas tax programme because it would
discard the user fee principle of financing highways and transfer road
maintenance cost to all gasoline users, including farmers who operate
farm machines only and seldom use urban highways.
The end result would be forcing farmers who are at a disadvantage
already to  subsidize urban road users.
This is the second time in history that the NPC has rejected a State
Council proposal, providing evidence that the NPC is no longer a "rubber
stamp congress."
It is possible that the NPC will also challenge WTO terms, after an
agreement is reach between US/Chinese negotiators and signed by Clinton
and Zhu.
Just like the US Congress, the NPC can refuse to ratify the agreement.
A separation of power is emerging in Chinese government.

Henry C.K. Liu