Opinion / Forum Digests
Spread the wealth
By Sosan Young ( bbs.chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-10-20 15:43
A glaring symbol for the distance China has traveled from the Mao Zedong
years is the Ferrari showroo
Opinion / Forum Digests
The CCP has changed
By Ron Short ( bbs.chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-10-28 10:12
I read a column about China and the ruling Communist Pary authored by
Robert Novak, who routinely writes about political affairs. And the story
is worth being picked-up for forumites sharing:
The message from officials in this huge, shiny, booming Chinese capital
is that China's military buildup does not connote desire to kick the
Americans out of East Asia.
Their assertion is buttressed by the clear impression that people here
are interested in making money, not war.
Yet, that members of the U.S. Congress see China's Communist regime as a
threat is felt here to be endangering the relationship between the two
powers.
The Chinese position was laid out unequivocally for me by Assistant
Foreign Minister Guofeng Sheng, the highest official made available to me
on my first visit to China in 12 years: "China has no intention to
restrict or limit United States influence. We do not have the capability.
Nor would we have such need [to attain that capability]." He added: "We
are not a threat to anybody."
But difficulty in Sino-American relations is no mere paranoia among
hard-line congressmen in Washington. Chinese officials and U.S. diplomats
admit that the love affair with America by ordinary Chinese ended more
than a decade ago, replaced by a worrisome anti-Americanism. The United
States is not much better loved in Beijing than it is in Paris.
On the surface it is difficult to see militarism here. The dusty old city
I encountered for the first time in 1978 is now a glittering giant of 11
million dedicated to commerce.
Patriotic posters have been replaced by corporate ads. Once omnipresent
soldiers of the People's Liberation Army, nowhere to be seen, are either
demobilized or back in barracks.
Assistant Foreign Minister Sheng expressed exasperation at anybody
imagining that the Chinese military could crowd U.S. forces out of Asia.
"We are not that strong. There is not a military buildup," he told me,
because Chinese spending is at only one-eighth of the U.S. level.
Sources close to Communist leaders say they are not really that concerned
with nuclear weapons in North Korean hands but are aggressively engaging
in the six-power process to please the Americans.
The issue cited by Sheng and other Chinese officials most dangerous to
Sino-American amity is the Taiwan question. But sources say the regime
actually is not eager to incorporate Taiwan now so long as it does not
move to independence. With the Kuomintang party apparently poised to
regain power in Taiwan, the independence threat would be gone for now.
Bad blood was spawned in the streets in the early '90s when the U.S.
Congress opposed the 2000 Olympics for Beijing. The bombing of the
Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo War was not regarded as an
accident by either the people or the authorities and is still talked
about here. Displeasure with Iraq followed these special irritants.
Beyond the streets, however, is one prominent Chinese businessman who
feels he was treated unfairly by U.S. politicians: Chengyu Fu, chairman
of the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC).
A little over 70 percent of CNOOC is owned by the state (the rest by
private investors). But Fu told me the Communist regime had nothing to do
with his decision to buy California-based Unocal oil company or his
decision to back off when a firestorm developed in Congress.
In CNOOC's gleaming Beijing office building, Fu said he thought the
Unocal deal would not only have benefited his shareholders but also fit
the U.S. ideal of unimpeded investment across national borders.
Instead, China was accused of trying to corner the international oil
market. "We thought we were doing a good thing," Fu told me. "I was
naive. But this is the world we live in."
CNOOC, he said, is a good global citizen. When Hurricane Katrina hit the
Gulf Coast, the company's employees voluntarily contributed $100,000 for
relief of the victims, which was matched by the company for a total
$200,000 contribution.
That unpublicized charity, he said, reflects a China that members of
Congress don't know about. "China has changed," he said. "Even the
Communist Party has changed. But the world does not know it."
The above content represents the view of the author only.
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Chinesepod
m not far from the Tiananmen Square in
Beijing. Nor is capitalism neglected in the lobbies of Beijing's
five-star hotels, where Hermes, Ferragamo and Tiffany kiosks reign.
No wonder some Chinese joke that the label "communist" in the ruling
party's name is already a historical relic, or at least to be changed for
a better and world acceptable one.
China's leaders demonstrated again last week that they understand the
rising tide has not yet lifted all boats. The nation's wealth, staggering
though it is, is concentrated along the coast. It's easy to see the rich
in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, but they're far more scarce in the
west.
President Hu Jintao deserves credit for understanding the problems. His
slogan of "harmonious society," a very good one, reflects the need to
lessen the disparity between rich and poor, which is exacerbated by
high-handed local officials and private developers who demolish simple
houses to make way for high-rises with little or no compensation for the
tenants.
The party's leaders ended their annual planning meeting last week with a
pledge to try to "maintain fast and stable economic growth" while also
improving the lives of those who have not benefited from the reform and
opening. The demand for change is clear: According to government figures,
there were 10,000 public protests in 1994 and 74,000 last year. That
shows the anger over corruption, income inequality, deteriorating
pollution, and poor and dangerous working conditions.
Hu and his team have tried to address the problems, going out of their
way to visit coal mines (still the sites of cave-ins that kill dozens of
miners at a time) and helping migrants from the countryside to the cities
collect their wages.
World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz told a news conference in Beijing that
China had made some advances in listening to ordinary citizens but needed
to do more in developing the rule of law and a civil society. He said the
World Bank's wide experience in providing funds to developing nations -
and China still is one despite its growing pockets of wealth - had taught
it that the quality of governance determines the quality of development.
Hu's team should have the courage to do it, and a better governance will
yield economic benefits for more people in China.
The above content represents the view of the author only.
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