MCLC: Wen calls for political reform

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Wen calls for political reform
***********************************************************

Source: NYT (3/14/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/world/asia/china-wen-jiabao-calls-for-pol
itical-reform.html

Wen Calls for Political Reform but Sidesteps Details
By MICHAEL WINES 

BEIJING ‹ Prime Minister Wen Jiabao issued a sharper and more urgent call
on Wednesday for political change in China, warning that the nation risks
a return to the chaos of the Cultural Revolution unless the ruling
Communist Party overhauls its leadership structure and clears the way for
economic reform.

But as in his previous statements, Mr. Wen gave scant indication of what
political change might entail, and made it clear that what he called
China¹s ³socialist democracy² would evolve in baby steps rather than by
sweeping action.

Calls for political reform in China are generally limited to changes
within the Communist Party, which is guaranteed absolute rule in the
nation¹s constitution, and not to greater participation by average
citizens. There was little to indicate that Mr. Wen¹s remarks stepped
outside party orthodoxy.

In his last news conference at the annual session of the nation¹s
handpicked legislature before he steps down as prime minister, Mr. Wen
offered cautious responses to a range of questions, on topics from income
inequality to unaffordable housing to self-immolations by ethnic Tibetans,
that were unusually tough by previous standards. Questioners raised topics
ranging from income inequality to unaffordable housing to the scores of
recent self-immolations by ethnic Tibetans protesting Chinese rule.

He also offered the strongest official response yet to the scandal
surrounding Bo Xilai, the ambitious party secretary of Chongqing
metropolis who spearheaded a much-publicized crackdown on corruption with
the city¹s police chief at the time, Wang Lijun.

Mr. Wang briefly took refuge in an American consulate last month after
apparently becoming ensnared in a separate corruption inquiry and
sidelined by Mr. Bo. The ensuing nationwide sensation is believed to have
tarnished Mr. Bo¹s reputation and dimmed his chances to join the national
leadership when a handoff of power begins this autumn.

Mr. Wen said the government has launched a special investigation of the
incident and would report the results to the public. He also said the
city¹s Communist Party leadership and municipal government ³must reflect
seriously and learn from the Wang Lijun incident,² implicitly calling into
question Mr. Bo¹s judgment in trusting Mr. Wang. Mr. Bo already had
publicly conceded error in overseeing Mr. Wang, although he staunchly
defended his tenure in Chongqing and the anti-corruption drive.

Many of Mr. Wen¹s comments on Wednesday were directed at the social
problems facing average Chinese citizens, especially the income
disparities and rising prices that have put a strain on families and,
party leaders fear, could spur social unrest.

Repeating measures outlined in the government¹s annual report on its
priorities, released earlier this month, Mr. Wen said leaders are
committed to raising the minimum wage, improving education and job
opportunities and expanding the nation¹s now-limited social safety net.

But he also offered a few glimpses at new initiatives, suggesting that the
government will impose controls on high incomes, including the salaries
and bonuses of executives in state-owned corporations and banks. And he
promised to make credit more affordable and available for small and medium
private businesses, many of which must borrow at loan-shark rates because
they cannot get money from big state-owned banks.

Mr. Wen said financial officials are considering experimental programs to
address the credit shortage, and that one may be started in Wenzhou, an
east-coast city that is a center of entrepreneurial activity.

Addressing China¹s skyrocketing real-estate prices, which have made homes
beyond the reach even of many middle-class citizens, Mr. Wen said
regulators would not back off measures intended to rein in property
speculation until housing was again affordable. To ease off, he said,
would ³cause chaos in the real-estate market.²

That doused investors¹ hopes that the government would ease controls on
lending to bolster the economy, triggering a 2.6 percent fall in the
Shanghai Composite Index. A real-estate index dropped 3.7 percent.

Mr. Wen also addressed the United States¹ demand that China allow its
currency to rise in value, repeating a promise in this month¹s work report
to overhaul the mechanism by which the exchange rate is set. But he also
signaled that any further appreciation is unlikely to be large, saying
that the renminbi ³is possibly near a balanced level.²

Mr. Wen¹s sole display of passion was reserved for the issue of political
reform, a cause he said he would promote to his last breath. His advocacy
has rendered him increasingly isolated within a top leadership that, if
anything, has more stubbornly resisted tinkering with the system.

In what seemed a message to the next generation of Chinese leaders, he
said that political reform had reached a crucial stage, and that stalling
or retreating from change ³offers no way out.²

³We must press ahead with both economic structural reform and political
structural reform, in particular reform in the leadership system of our
party and country,² he said. Otherwise, ³the gains we have made in this
area will be lost, new problems that have cropped up in China¹s society
will not be fundamentally resolved and such a historic tragedy as the
Cultural Revolution may happen again.²

Among those problems, he pointedly noted, are increases in corruption and
income disparity and a decline in the government¹s credibility.

The Cultural Revolution, a decade-long purge of intellectuals, political
enemies and cultural figures, enabled Mao Zedong to recapture absolute
control of China after the disastrous economic failure and famines of his
Great Leap Forward.

Mr. Wen¹s demands for change were nevertheless offset by more tepid
remarks on its pace and scope. He stressed that China must ³develop our
socialist democracy in a step-by-step manner² keeping in mind China¹s size
and circumstances.

Asked when China would let its citizens elect leaders now chosen by the
party¹s elite, Mr. Wen instead praised the conduct of village elections‹
deemed corrupt and ineffective by some scholars and villagers alike ‹ and
expressed hope that citizens might one day elect township and county
officials.

Calling himself ³an old steed,² Mr. Wen also engaged in a bit of
self-criticism, apologizing for the mistakes of his 10-year term and
adding that ³there is still much room for improvement in my work.²

³I have the courage to face the people and face history,² he said.
³Ultimately, history will have the final say.²

Jonathan Ansfield contributed research.