|
A sound economic future
Hu Jintao
CHINA used to target “rapid and sound” economic growth. The fact that
soundness is preferred to speed for China’s economic growth reflects an
important change in the economic outlook of the CPC—China is beginning
to value the quality of economic growth rather than the speed. How to
attain the goal of sound and rapid development for the national economy
is the subject of Hu’s eight-point proposal. Point I: Enhance China’s
capacity for independent innovation and make China an innovative country
Quote: We will speed up forming a national innovation system and support
basic research, research in frontier technology and technological
research for public welfare. We will step up our efforts to establish a
market-oriented system for technological innovation, in which
enterprises play the leading role and which combines the efforts of
enterprises, universities and research institutes, and guide and support
the concentration of factors of innovation in enterprises, thereby
promoting the translation of scientific and technological advances into
practical productive forces. We will deepen reform of the system for
managing science and technology, optimize the allocation of relevant
resources, and improve the legal guarantee, policy system, incentive
mechanism and market conditions to encourage technological innovation
and the application of scientific and technological achievements in
production. We will implement the strategy for intellectual property
rights. We will make the best use of international resources of science
and technology. We will continue to create conditions conducive to
innovation, train world-class scientists and leaders in scientific and
technological research, inspire creative wisdom and bring forth large
numbers of innovative personnel.
Interpretation: It was decided at the Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th
CPC Central Committee in October 2005 that China would make the
enhancement of innovation a strategic point in economic and social
development. Many enterprises and research and development (R&D)
institutions have increased spending in innovation. Industries including
aerospace, iron and steel, medical treatment, automobile, electronics,
IT and machinery manufacturing, own many core technologies with
independent intellectual property rights. Statistics from the World
Intellectual Property Organization show that in the past decade, the
number of registered patents worldwide had grown by 70 percent. During
the same period the number of registered patents in China had increased
by 488 percent. In the future, China will focus on making breakthroughs
in core technologies that play a key role in promoting economic and
social development. Point II: Accelerate transformation of the mode of
economic development and promote upgrading of the industrial structure
Quote: We will develop a modern industrial system, integrate IT
application with industrialization, push our large industries to grow
stronger, invigorate the equipment manufacturing industry, and eliminate
outdated production capacities. We will upgrade new- and hi-tech
industries and develop information, biotechnology, new materials,
aerospace, marine and other industries. We will develop the modern
service industry and raise the level of the service sector and its share
in the economy. We will step up efforts to improve basic industries and
infrastructure and accelerate development of a modern energy industry
and a comprehensive transport system. We will ensure the quality and
safety of products. We will encourage formation of internationally
competitive conglomerates.
Interpretation: One of the priorities for the Party since the 16th CPC
National Congress in 2002 has been to adjust the industrial structure
and promote the upgrade of industrial restructuring. Since the release
of the Catalogue for the Guidance of Adjustment to Industrial Structure
in 2005, China has achieved remarkable results in adjusting its
industrial structure. A large number of outdated production capacities
have been eliminated in the electric power, iron and steel, electrolytic
aluminum, chemical, coal and paper-making industries. A total of 55
million tons of outdated production capacities were put into disuse in
the iron and steel industry in 2005 and 2006, and 110 million tons, in
the coal industry in 2006. The electric power industry will eliminate
small outdated power generating units of 50 megawatts this year. The
Chinese Government is vigorously supporting hi-tech industries such as
electronics and telecommunications through tariff reduction and
exemption for machinery or equipment imported for the electronic and
telecom sectors. The National Development and Reform Commission approved
539 hi-tech projects which are encouraged to develop. Up to now, the
rapid growth of investment in iron and steel, coal, electric power and
electrolytic aluminum industries has been put under control, while the
development of information, biotechnology, new materials, aerospace,
marine and other industries has been accelerated. Point III: Balance
urban and rural development and build a new socialist countryside
Quote: We will continue to take developing modern agriculture and
invigorating the rural economy as a primary task, strengthen
infrastructure in rural areas, and improve the system of rural markets
and that of services for agriculture. We will increase policy measures
to support and benefit agriculture, rural areas and farmers, strictly
protect arable land, increase spending on agriculture, promote advances
in agriculture-related science and technology, and improve overall
agricultural production capacity to ensure food security for the nation.
We will intensify efforts to prevent and control animal and plant
epidemic diseases and improve the quality and safety of agricultural
products. To increase farmers’ income, we will develop rural
enterprises, expand county economies, and transfer rural labor out of
farming through various channels. We will enhance poverty reduction
through development. We will deepen the comprehensive rural reform,
promote reform and innovation in the rural banking system, and reform
the system of collective forest rights. We will uphold the basic system
for rural operations, stabilize and improve land contract relations,
improve the market for transferring land contract and management rights
in accordance with the law and on a voluntary and compensatory basis,
and develop various forms of appropriate large-scale operations where
conditions permit. We will explore effective forms of collective
economic operations, develop specialized farmers’ cooperatives, and
support the industrialized operation of agriculture and the development
of leading agribusinesses.
Interpretation: The plan for building a new socialist countryside as set
forth in the Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th CPC Central Committee has
been smoothly implemented with overall healthy results. In 2007, a total
of 391.7 billion yuan will be allocated from the central budget for
agriculture, rural areas and farmers. This is 52 billion yuan, or 15.3
percent, more than was provided for 2006. The building of a new
countryside ensures sustained increases of farmers’ income. The increase
of farmers’ net per-capita income has exceeded 6 percent for three
consecutive years since 2004. By June this year, 720 million farmers, or
82.8 percent of the agricultural population nationwide, had participated
in the pilot program of a new-style rural cooperative medical care
system. A nationwide basic minimum cost of living allowance system for
rural residents has been put in place. Currently, the system covers
20.68 million farmers. The government has abolished the tax on special
agricultural products, the animal husbandry tax and the slaughter tax
nationwide, and relieved farmers of the burden of up to 120 billion yuan
in 2006 in comparison to that in 1999.
Point IV: Improve energy, resources, ecological and environmental
conservation and enhance China’s capacity for sustainable development
Quote: We will develop and extend advanced and appropriate technologies
for conserving, substituting and recycling energy and resources, develop
clean and renewable energy sources, protect land and water resources and
set up a scientific, rational system for using energy and resources more
efficiently. We will develop environmental conservation industries. We
will increase spending on energy and environmental conservation with the
focus on intensifying prevention and control of water, air and soil
pollution and improving the living environment for both urban and rural
residents. We will improve water conservancy, forestry and grasslands
and promote restoration of the ecosystems. We will enhance our capacity
to respond to climate change and make new contributions to protecting
the global climate.
Interpretation: China is abundant in energy and resources, but the
per-capita share is small. China’s per-capita freshwater availability
stands at 2,200 cubic meters, only about a quarter of the world average.
Per-capita arable land is 0.09 hectares, less than 40 percent of the
world average. The per-capita forestry area gives an average of 0.13
hectares, only one fifth of the world average. The per-capita shares of
45 varieties of major minerals in China are less than the half of the
world average. The severe problem of environmental pollution
accompanying economic growth has remained to be solved. As a result, it
is crucial to the survival and development of the nation to improve
energy efficiency and mitigate the burden on ecological environment
protection due to energy consumption increases. Measures adopted in the
past several years to save energy and resources and protect the
ecological environment have yielded results. China’s energy consumption
per unit of GDP in the first half of this year dropped 2.78 percent from
the same period last year. Point V: Promote balanced development among
regions and improve the pattern of land development.
Quote: In detail, in compliance with the laws governing the market
economy, we will work beyond administrative divisions to form a number
of close-knit economic rims and belts that will provide a strong impetus
to the development of other areas. Taking a path of urbanization with
Chinese characteristics, we will promote balanced development of large,
medium-sized and small cities and towns on the principle of balancing
urban and rural development, ensuring rational distribution, saving
land, providing a full range of functions and getting larger cities to
help smaller ones. Focusing on increasing the overall carrying capacity
of cities, we will form city clusters with megacities as the core so
that they can boost development in other areas and become new poles of
economic growth. Interpretation: The gap in development among regions
remains a major problem in China’s economic development. Important
measures the Chinese Government has adopted to promote balanced
development among regions include the rejuvenation of the old industrial
bases in northeast China, vigorously promoting the development in the
central region and actively supporting the eastern coastal region to
take the lead in development.
The central budget has allocated more than 130 billion yuan to the
rejuvenation of northeast China from 2003 until now, and will spend more
than 720 billion yuan in the project of West China Development from 2006
to 2010. To narrow the widening gap in development of different regions
and the regional gap in social welfare for local residents will remain a
major task for China’s economic and social development as well as a
basic consideration for the planning of strategies for balanced
development among regions.
(The Daily Mail-Beijing Review Articles Exchange
Item)
When despots hold sway
Munir Daair
DEMOCRACY has one glitch;
people become free. Otherwise, it’s a wonderful system! In the Islamic
world, that glitch of democracy has ensured the virtual absence of
democracy. Of course, the battle tanks of “operation phantom WMDs”
brought to implant democrazy and pass it as democracy in Iraq, as an
alternative cause célèbre for a war plan gone awry, did not help
matters. The outcome, perhaps intended, has only strengthened those
regimes that claim Muslims are not capable of democracy. But there is
another anti-democratic ploy gradually becoming evident, played out by
the most unlikely bed-fellows in a sinister triangle.
Self-appointed guardians of the faith who claim democracy is un-Islamic
(because, God forbid, it equates the ignorant with the learned!) have
found common cause with governments who deny their people democracy. The
triangle was completed by the battle tanks of “operation democrazy” that
entered Iraq. See how neatly the triangle worked out? You may, if you
wish, call that the offshoot and fringe benefit of “operation oil”.
Within that neat, yet sinister triangle, the real forces of democracy
find themselves strangulated. The regimes banish democracy from taking
root in any serious way. The self-appointed guardians issue fatwas
(religious rulings) that fraudulently misrepresent democracy as
un-Islamic. And both continue to survive assured of super power military
and political cover.
In the midst of all that, of course, the war on terror baloney
continues, with its post 9/11 licence to kill and violate civil
liberties. Those who challenge the dictatorships and their foreign
protectors are branded as terrorists. Those who challenge fraudulent
religious interpretations, especially where free thought, debate and the
rights of women are concerned, are branded as heretics. In medieval
Europe, the dictatorship of the church caused religion to lose its
appeal among people who mistook the Church’s fraudulent dictates to be
Christianity’s dictates. This created anti-church sentiments and greatly
contributed to the growth of atheism. In the Muslim world we run a
similar risk as debate becomes restricted by the self appointed
guardians of the faith, who, together with the political establishment,
set the agenda and then misinterpret Islam to serve that agenda.
Going forward, unless sensible minds prevail, we may actually find
ourselves, in the Islamic world, re-living the Christian world’s age of
the inquisition. What applies to one Muslim country applies to many
others. The modus operandi might differ, yet the objectives and the
results are the same. George Bush’s democracy rhetoric notwithstanding,
the prospect for real democracy in the Arab and Islamic world is more
threatened now than ever before. Pakistan is only the latest casualty.
Others may follow.
In dealing with democratic forces and others who demand reforms, the
powers that be, tragically, have decided on confrontation rather than
accommodation, on marginalisation rather than co-existence, to depend on
foreign power rather than the mandate of their own people. Musharraf’s
need to allocate a portion of his national address to speak, in English,
to the US public painfully symbolises the extent to which local
dictators have become isolated from their own people and rely, for their
survival, on the protection of foreign powers.
In many countries of the Islamic world today, despotic rulers build
powerful military forces and efficient Intelligence apparatus, not to
provide safeguards against foreign attack, not to protect the nation
from external threats, but to protect their own despotic survival
against their own masses. To the untrained eye our present state of
affairs in the Islamic world is the result of an unyielding religious
faith that first produces fanatics then sends them out to die and kill
others for causes too complex to understand. Yet, in reality, it is the
consequence of the dichotomy between an oppressive minority and an
oppressed majority on the one hand and a political fait accompli imposed
by external forces whose geopolitical and economic ambitions are
exceeded only by their lethal power and willingness to use it.
But then, why is there such a dichotomy and why are Muslim governments,
almost everywhere, adamantly opposed by their subjects? The answer to
these questions can be found in the Islamic world’s dilapidated
government classrooms, pathetic health care centres, inefficient and
corrupted bureaucracies, unfair wealth distribution, scarce employment
opportunities and a frustrated youth who represent more than 60 per cent
of our population. Add to these realities, the violence unleashed by
occupation forces against the civilian populations of Palestine, Iraq,
Afghanistan and who knows where else soon, together with the abusive
control these foreign powers have over the resources and the governments
of the region. Couple all that with the double standards that insult the
intelligence of our populations, you have a ready recipe for the turmoil
that engulfs Pakistan today and other nations of the region tomorrow.—Khaleej
Times
GCC Summit: Prospects & challenges
Abdulaziz O Sager
THE GCC leaders will meet in
the first week of December in Doha, Qatar for their regular annual
summit meeting to discuss the current issues and future challenges
facing the GCC nations and the region in general. Most likely the final
communiqué of the summit will refer to the usual Gulf concerns and other
regional issues of interest. However, the Iranian nuclear crisis will
definitely be at the forefront of these issues. Relations between Iran
and the GCC states cannot be limited to the nuclear issue. This is not
to underestimate the importance of this issue to the GCC countries. The
concern felt by the GCC states can be partly attributed to some extreme
statements and actions by the Iranian government over other issues of
interest. Thus, it is important to view the Iranian nuclear crisis
within the wider context of the policies and attitudes of the Iranian
regime toward the Gulf region in particular and the Arab world in
general.
Since Iran is an Islamic state, and a neighbor of the Arab world, it is
imperative for Gulf-Iranian relationships to be based on the firm
foundation of mutual interests, friendly neighborliness, respect of
sovereignty and noninterference in internal affairs. However, the
problem is with the confrontational nature of the policies of the
Iranian regime which creates a state of instability in the region. Much
of this emanates from internal conflicts and imbalances within the
Iranian political system. Of course we cannot ignore the other sources
of instability in the region, chief among which is the failure of US
policies in Iraq, which ultimately works to the interest of Iran. In
this context, it could be said that the interventionist nature of
Iranian policy vis-a-vis Arab affairs has the same dangerous impact as
the Iranian nuclear policy. This aggressive policy has damaging effects
on the security of the Arab world in the near and long term. Iran is
controlling the main centers of power within the Iraqi state. It has
virtual domination over the political process and decision-making
mechanism in Iraq. It plays a major role in the political and security
scene in Lebanon, and has a clear presence in Palestinian politics. This
is in addition to its total rejection of any possible peaceful solution
to the issue of its occupation of the three UAE islands. Some recent
statements from within Iran repeated the old false claims that the
sovereign Kingdom of Bahrain is just another Iranian province.
Also, Iran has failed until now to build confidence among its neighbors
in the Gulf region and reassure them about its nuclear program. The GCC
summit will be held at a time when the option of a military
confrontation over the Iranian nuclear crisis is gaining considerable
momentum. Iran under Ahmadinajad is more or less taking the same
position as Iraq under Saddam Hussein, which led to catastrophic
results. The two UN Security Council resolutions 1737 and 1747 called
upon Iran to suspend, with immediate effect, all enrichment-related and
reprocessing activities on its territory. Since March 2006, the UN
Security Council has repeated its calls, but Iran continued with its
enrichment process, while the political and military leadership of the
country raised the level of political rhetoric.
It is worth mentioning here that the call for the suspension of uranium
enrichment activities is no longer an American or European demand;
rather, it has become an urgent requirement by the international
community. It is a demand that has the credence of international
legality conferred upon it by the UN Security Council resolutions.—Arab
News
|
