Institutions of Democratic Governance
According to a BBC report, China's Communist Party has warned its members that corruption and incompetence could threaten its hold on power.The party's Central Committee said in a policy paper that Communist rule could not be taken for granted.
The author of this piece notes that an inheritance tax does reduce the family motive behind a certain amount of official corruption. In addition he or she notes that a system of inheritance tax requires much better disclosure of assets that has been required of officials in the past.
This commentary published on the Boxun Website by dissident Fang Jue argues that China must not limit democratization to the inner-Party democracy emphasized in the recent plenary meeting. The drafters of the anti-corruption regulations issued by the Party last winter hoped to use inner-Party democracy to avoid concentration of power in the hands of potentially corrupt Party bosses. Fang points out that even if a perfect democracy could be constructed inside the Party, it would include only 5% of the population. To be able to join the mainstream of the great nations of the world, says Fang, the government must start now to broaden reform and open communications with all progressive forces inside China. Fang Jue was formerly a vice director of the planning commission in Fuzhou Province. He wrote "China Needs a New Transformation: Program Proposals of the Democratic Faction," released to the media in 1998, which presented the views of progressives in the CCP.
Xinhua reports that the CDIC held its fourth plenary meeting since the 16th Party Congress on September 20. The plenary focused on how to strengthen the Party's capacity to govern: the main theme of the CCP meeting last week. As part of this larger effort, the CDIC's role will be to fight corruption, which Party leaders acknowledge to be the key obstacle to the Party's ability to govern effectively and legitimately.
In an interview with Southern Weekend (translated here by Manfred Elfstrom), Yu Jianrong, the noted Chinese Academy of Social Sciences scholar and author of a recent book on the dynamics of rural China, states that illegal confiscation of land by local officials and related abuses have become the most serious threats to peasant rights, and that property rights have displaced tax burdens as the principal focus of peasant protest. Yu traces the sharp rise in the number of land petitions and protests in the last two years in part to China's rapid urbanization and in part to the focus of China's new leaders on governing "for the people," which he claims has created an environment in which peasants are more comfortable raising their grievances. He notes that over 66 million peasants have lost their land over the past 13 years.
On September 14, China's high court held a press conference to call attention to the connection between financial fraud and official corruption and abuse of office. Shen Deyong, vice-president of the SPC, said that the increasing size and number of such crimes may eventually come to undermine social stability.
This month's edition of "China Journalist" (a monthly publication of Xinhua) includes an editorial (in Chinese) discussing the role of "supervision of public opinion." Written by Cuo Jinchang, Xinhua's deputy secretary, and Lu Feng, deputy director of Xinhua's economics bureau, the article provides a brief history of this concept and discusses its current status. It also reaffirms that "supervision of public opinion" must be done in a manner that reinforces the authority of the Chinese Communist Party.
According to the China Youth Daily, Government and Party leaders in Wanyuan, a poor Sichuan city, used local funds on a gala commemoration of past PLA victory. The costs of the event amounted to half of Wanyuan's annual revenues. In an article on the event, Mao Shoulong of Renda's School of Public Administration notes "[D]ecision-making and spending are not always transparent." See story # 621.
Jonathan Watts of the Guardian reports that the extravaganza planned to welcome the Olympics to Beijing will be toned down. The change in plans may respond to discontent with the growing disparity in incomes between rich and poor in China. The plans for the Olympics have exacerbated popular anger over residential evictions to make way for contruction in Beijing. In addition, the slimmer Olympics may respond to the June report of China's auditor-general finding significant corruption in the early preparations for building the venues for the Games.
South China Morning Post analyst concludes that the Party plenum later this month will focus on developing the Party-state's governing capacity. Wiest quotes unnamed analysts as saying that Party discipline will be a key focus, but that enforcement of the rule of law within the Party, part of anti-corruption regulations issued last January, will not be center-stage. Instead, as suggested by the June 29 Politburo meeting, the focus will be on relying on inner-Party democracy to build effective leadership.