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With the new generation of Chinese leadership taking office a
year ago, a substantive change has occurred in the government's
development policy which targets at "common wealth" for all.
The essence of the policy, a scientific approach to development
and putting people first, finds expressions in both a communique of
the Communist Party of China Central Committee issued last October
and the government work report of Premier Wen Jiabao made last
Friday.
The philosophy of "common wealth" is a "major step forward in
China's history" some 20 years after late leader Deng Xiaoping
advocated for "letting a group of the people get rich first and
finally realize common prosperity," said Hu Angang, a noted
economist.
Deng's theory helped to do away with the equalitarianism in the
country's long-standing distribution system and kicked start a
sustained rapid economic growth at an average annual rate of around
10 percent for over two decades.
However, problems arising with the economic takeoff, such as
enlarging disparities between the urban and rural areas, between
different regions and between people in terms of income, cannot be
ignored.
According to official estimation, the gap between the most
affluent province in east China and the poorest province in the
west grows as wide as more than ten folds and the urban residents
in the eastern province earn three times more than their peers in
the western province.
The promulgation of the new policy that aims at an overall,
coordinated and sustainable development and promotion for the
comprehensive economic, social and human development indicates a
major readjustment when China enters a new stage of economic and
social development, said Song Xingguo, a lawmaker representing the
banking sector.
It also shows that the central government has paid close
attention to the potential risks of imbalanced growth behind the
unprecedented prosperity of the country, said Li Shantong, a member
of the national advisory body -- the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference.
Hu Angang said "common wealth" does not imply "equal wealth" for
all, nor a stop or reversal to the development of the areas and
people that have led others in getting rich.
What the new policy pursues is precisely to create opportunities
whereby all the people pitch in development together, improve the
capacity to develop together, promote development together and
share the fruits of development together, he said.
"This is the political guarantee for long-term social stability
in China," he added.
(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2004)
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