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Change you can believe in?
The prime minister calls frankly for political reform
Aug 26th 2010 | Beijing
CHINA is enjoying its new status as the world’s second-largest economy, but the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, is refusing to relax. During a visit to a southern boomtown he declared that economic gains could yet be lost without reforms to the political system. One official newspaper called his speech one of “extraordinary importance”, but sceptics abound.
His remarks on August 20th and 21st in the city of Shenzhen have been compared by some optimists to those made by the late Deng Xiaoping during a tour of the same city in 1992. Deng’s calls for market-oriented reforms sent central-planners scurrying and unleashed the entrepreneurial energy that has helped China to grow at giddy rates since. During his trip Mr Wen laid flowers before a statue of Deng, who turned Shenzhen into a test bed for economic change exactly 30 years ago.
Mr Wen’s remarks on political reform were striking. China, he said, had to “resolve the issue of the excessive concentration of unrestrained power” and “create conditions for the people to criticise and supervise the government”. It was necessary, he said, to build a society with “fairness and justness”. Chinese leaders have spoken before about the importance of political reform (while ushering in very little), but Mr Wen’s emphasis was unusual.
This has caused a flurry of excitement in some state-controlled newspapers. Southern Daily, in Guangdong Province where Shenzhen is located, published a commentary saying a new wave of “leftist” thinking was blocking reforms in some places. It said it was time for a “breakthrough”, and called for “a new generation of reformers to stand up”. Yangzi Daily added that social stability in China would be unsustainable without political change. Global Times quoted a Communist Party academic as saying that the “slow pace” of political reform in China was the “root cause of growing social conflict”.
Heady stuff, but Mr Wen is no Deng. Most Beijing newspapers have reported Mr Wen’s remarks without comment. One enthusiastic group of 15 or so intellectuals gathered outside Beijing to discuss their import. The arrival of two suspected security agents and an unexpected power cut at the venue hastened proceedings to a close.
An organiser, Cui Weiping, says participants supported Mr Wen’s views, but some doubted that much would happen. One of Beijing’s most outspoken Wen-sceptics, Yu Jie, says the leaders will try to avoid any disruptive change in the two years remaining before Mr Wen and President Hu Jintao are likely to step down from the ruling Politburo. A timid attempt at reform unveiled on August 23rd involves cutting 13 non-violent crimes from the list of 68 offences punishable by death. Of the hundreds executed each year, it is thought few are convicted of these crimes.
Mr Yu has put Mr Wen to an unusual test by writing a book that accuses the prime minister of being far less reformist than he makes himself out to be. “China’s Best Actor, Wen Jiabao”, was published in Hong Kong on August 16th but is banned in mainland China. Few books that are so explicitly critical of serving leaders (Mr Yu produced another last year that attacks President Hu) have ever been published by a Chinese citizen living in China. In this case, Mr Yu has taken on “Grandpa Wen” who is regarded by many ordinary Chinese as the party’s more human face.
Security agents visited Mr Yu in July and warned that he could be jailed if the book appeared. Their failure to arrest him so far could be a sign of progress. Or, he says, it could be a careful calculation that locking him up would do nothing for Mr Wen’s image.
http://www.economist.com/node/16891829?story_id=16891829
The prime minister calls frankly for political reform
Aug 26th 2010 | Beijing
CHINA is enjoying its new status as the world’s second-largest economy, but the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, is refusing to relax. During a visit to a southern boomtown he declared that economic gains could yet be lost without reforms to the political system. One official newspaper called his speech one of “extraordinary importance”, but sceptics abound.
His remarks on August 20th and 21st in the city of Shenzhen have been compared by some optimists to those made by the late Deng Xiaoping during a tour of the same city in 1992. Deng’s calls for market-oriented reforms sent central-planners scurrying and unleashed the entrepreneurial energy that has helped China to grow at giddy rates since. During his trip Mr Wen laid flowers before a statue of Deng, who turned Shenzhen into a test bed for economic change exactly 30 years ago.
Mr Wen’s remarks on political reform were striking. China, he said, had to “resolve the issue of the excessive concentration of unrestrained power” and “create conditions for the people to criticise and supervise the government”. It was necessary, he said, to build a society with “fairness and justness”. Chinese leaders have spoken before about the importance of political reform (while ushering in very little), but Mr Wen’s emphasis was unusual.
This has caused a flurry of excitement in some state-controlled newspapers. Southern Daily, in Guangdong Province where Shenzhen is located, published a commentary saying a new wave of “leftist” thinking was blocking reforms in some places. It said it was time for a “breakthrough”, and called for “a new generation of reformers to stand up”. Yangzi Daily added that social stability in China would be unsustainable without political change. Global Times quoted a Communist Party academic as saying that the “slow pace” of political reform in China was the “root cause of growing social conflict”.
Heady stuff, but Mr Wen is no Deng. Most Beijing newspapers have reported Mr Wen’s remarks without comment. One enthusiastic group of 15 or so intellectuals gathered outside Beijing to discuss their import. The arrival of two suspected security agents and an unexpected power cut at the venue hastened proceedings to a close.
An organiser, Cui Weiping, says participants supported Mr Wen’s views, but some doubted that much would happen. One of Beijing’s most outspoken Wen-sceptics, Yu Jie, says the leaders will try to avoid any disruptive change in the two years remaining before Mr Wen and President Hu Jintao are likely to step down from the ruling Politburo. A timid attempt at reform unveiled on August 23rd involves cutting 13 non-violent crimes from the list of 68 offences punishable by death. Of the hundreds executed each year, it is thought few are convicted of these crimes.
Mr Yu has put Mr Wen to an unusual test by writing a book that accuses the prime minister of being far less reformist than he makes himself out to be. “China’s Best Actor, Wen Jiabao”, was published in Hong Kong on August 16th but is banned in mainland China. Few books that are so explicitly critical of serving leaders (Mr Yu produced another last year that attacks President Hu) have ever been published by a Chinese citizen living in China. In this case, Mr Yu has taken on “Grandpa Wen” who is regarded by many ordinary Chinese as the party’s more human face.
Security agents visited Mr Yu in July and warned that he could be jailed if the book appeared. Their failure to arrest him so far could be a sign of progress. Or, he says, it could be a careful calculation that locking him up would do nothing for Mr Wen’s image.
http://www.economist.com/node/16891829?story_id=16891829
