Chinascope – Page 1044

How to Cut the Cake: Wealthy Government and Poor People

A University of Science and Technology Beijing professor and a financial analyst jointly wrote a recent article, which was reprinted in the CCP Central Committee’s Qiushi Journal. The article looked into how the fiscal relationship between the central and local governments contributes to the “wealthy government and poor people” phenomenon. “In the past 20 years, China’s per capita GDP grew 15.71 times from 1,892.8 yuan in 1991 to 29,762 yuan in 2010, while the central government’s fiscal revenue grew 45.27 times in the same period.”

The 1994 reform of revenue-sharing between the central and local governments shifted the resources toward the former. “The proportion of the central government’s fiscal revenue to total fiscal revenue in each of the three years immediately before the reform, 29.8%, 28.1%, and 22%, grew to 55.7%, 52.2%, and 49.4%, in each of the subsequent three years.”

“For a long period, a large portion of fiscal expenditure was used in infrastructure and economic development. … Low government expenditures on education, health, and social security exposed people to high tuition and expensive medical care. Residents with low incomes have had to pay for items that should have been covered by fiscal expenditures, leading to high precautionary savings and lowering current and anticipated consumption. This is the basic reason for the difficulties in the growth of domestic consumption and the serious imbalance between investment and consumption!”

“Most critically, the criterion for the performance evaluation of local officials is GDP. Local officials do not make any effort to improve people’s livelihood, but squander limited fiscal resources on projects that help their performance evaluation! ‘Money’ and ‘performance pressure’ drive local officials to do off-budget land sales! Local governments push up land prices; high land prices push up housing prices, high housing prices empty people’s wallets. Meanwhile, the real estate boom pushes up the GDP, but makes the common people suffer!”

Source: Qiushi Journal, June 22, 2011
http://www.qstheory.cn/jj/jjggyfz/201106/t20110622_88711.htm

Briefings | | June 29, 2011 | Economy/Resources

The Fall of the Soviet Union Due to the Loss of the Party’s Soul

An article published on Xinhua’s Outlook Weekly magazine analyzed the collapse of the former Soviet Union 20 years ago. “The fall of the Soviet Union was due to the loss of the Party’s soul and the degeneration of the Party’s nature. Gorbachev’s blind political restructuring and hasty democratization were the accelerator and the fuse of the whole process.”

Having reviewed the “failure” of the Soviet Union’s political reform, the author, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, concluded, “Political reform is the self-improvement of the socialist system. Thus we must uphold the right direction. Political reform must be conducive to the country’s stability and national unity; it must be conducive to enhancing political democracy, political stability and political effectiveness; it must be under the strong leadership of the Party on a comprehensive, scientific and political development road.”

Source: Outlook Weekly, June 27, 2011
http://www.lwgcw.com/NewsShow.aspx?newsId=21621

Briefings | | June 29, 2011 | Government/Politics

Three Unsustainables in China’s Land Use

On June 24, 2011, Xu Shaoshi, the Minister of Land and Resources, told Xinhua that “land use and management profoundly matters as never before for the lifeblood of the country and livelihood of the people; it profoundly influences socioeconomic development as never before.” Xu referred to three “unsustainable” issues: over-consumption and inefficient use of land is unsustainable; large-scale development of reserved land resources is unsustainable; ignoring the equal rights of urban and rural land users is unsustainable.

With arable land per capita being 40% of the world average, China is facing a grave challenge safeguarding the “red line” of 1.8 billion mu (ed. note: 1 mu equals 666.6666666666666 square meters. One acre comprises about 4,050 square metres) of arable land to achieve a grain self-sufficiency ratio of 95%. Meanwhile, urbanization and land grabs have become a major source of widespread social conflict and unrest.

Source: Xinhua, June 24, 2011
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2011-06/24/c_121581858.htm

Briefings | | June 29, 2011 | Government/Politics

China’s High-Speed Rail Suffers from Low Attendance

Although the railway authorities have not released the operation statistics, it is not a secret that China’s high-speed rail loses money and has a low load factor, a measure of the percentage of seats that are filled. China now operates five high-speed routs: Beijing-Tianjin, Wuhan-Guangzhou, Zhengzhou-Xi’an, Shanghai-Nanjing, and Shanghai-Hangzhou.

Getting people to ride the rail is the problem. Although China is the most populated country, not many people ride the high-speed rail. Sun Zhang, a professor at Tongji University, pointed out, “Although the speed of China’s high-speed rail is already number one in the world, our per capita GDP ranks below 100 in the world.” Many people still feel it is expensive. In 2009, the nation’s railway system transported 1.525 billion passengers. On average, every Chinese rides the train a little over once a year. This is a low number compared to 80 rides for the average Japanese in one year.

Source: Xinmin Evening News, June 25, 2011.

http://xmwb.xinmin.cn/xmwb/html/2011-06/25/content_721911.htm

Briefings | | June 28, 2011 | Economy/Resources

Human Factor Is the Top Killer in Coal Mine Accidents

China Economic Weekly, a magazine under People’s Daily interviewed Chen Hong, a professor at China’s University of Mining and Technology. In the interview, Chen said, "In fact, of all the direct causes of coal mine accidents, human factors account for up to 97.67%. That figure is from an analysis of 1,203 accidents between 1980 and 2000 that involved human death." Chen added, “A study of a large number of coal mine accidents that took place between 2001 and 2010 confirmed the above conclusion. The workers’ illegal operations, management giving directions against regulations, and other unsafe behavior in the coal mines are still the main causes for China’s coal mine accidents."

Chen also stated, “Despite the declining trend of China’s annual death rate from coal mine accidents, the latest statistics show that the number accounts for 70% of the world’s coal mine death toll." Chen added that in 2010, 79,552 people died in various work related accidents, at a rate 218 every day.

Source: China Economic Weekly, June 27.

2011.http://www.ceweekly.cn/html/Article/20110627672147140970.html

Briefings | | June 28, 2011 | Economy/Resources

Hanban’s Deputy Director on Confucius Institutes

A two-day joint conference of the Confucius Institutes concluded in Buenos Aires on June 23, 2011. Wang Yongli, the deputy director of Hanban, the Chinese National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, told Xinhua that the Confucius Institute is a non-profit educational institution, and that the Chinese government has actively supported the launch and development of Confucius Institutes around the world. In the course of operation, Hanban has seen enormous intangible benefits.

By the end of 2010, Hanban had launched 323 Confucius Institutes and 369 Confucius Classrooms, with over 300,000 registered students. Hanban has also sent more than 3,000 teachers abroad.

Source: Xinhua, June 25, 2011.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/2011-06/25/c_121583277.htm

Briefings | | June 28, 2011 | Geo-Strategic Trend

First Privately Owned Party School Formed in Shanghai

The Ossen Group, a private company in Shanghai with a core business in steel and real estate, formed its own Party school, the first in the private business sector. The Ossen Party School consists of the school principal, an administrator, and a guidance counselor and will organize trainings for the Party members within the Ossen group.

According to the Party secretary of the Ossen Group, the group has established CCP branch offices in each subsidiary company, conducted training and education on Party guidelines and core values, and regularized CCP activities in the group so as to attract the younger generation to embrace the Party. Now 90 percent of the company’s leadership personnel are CCP members. In recent years, it has recruited over 150 new Party members.

Source: People Daily Online, June 21, 2011
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/14958981.html

Briefings | | June 27, 2011 | Government/Politics

Xinhua Commentary Series: Spotlight on the U.S. Presidential Election

Wu Guoguang: Xi Jinping’s Reversal of the Course, Will China’s Transition be Peaceful or Marked with Bloodshed?

Cheng Xiaonong: U.S.-China Strategic Relations Have Crystallized

Xinhua Commentaries: “Exposing the Three Major Political Deficits of the U.S.”