The Monde.fr|19/11/2013 at8:17• Updated19/11/2013 at14h51|
By Marie Holzman(sinologist) and Wei Jingsheng(former dissident)
The376 members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China met on Nov.9 to12 with the willingness to deliberate coming economic and societal reforms. However, the work report by its President Xi Jinping had some contradictory phrases, such as:"The function of the market is decisive in allocating resources" and yet"we must maintain the dominant role in our system of collective ownership and continue the state-directed economy."
Anyway, to summarize, Xi Jinping means"we must keep the leadership of the Communist Party". It seems that the main result of this plenum was the creation of a new Commission, called the"Committee of State Security" directly under the central government. It is therefore means to continue without change much of the economic reform policy implemented in1978 by Deng Xiaoping while maintaining even stronger political repression.
* REIGN OF FEAR*
As the Chinese system already has the ministries of justice, the national defense, security, and its police, armed police, and a variety of tools of repression, why there is need to establish a new committee? That is because fear reigns in the highest echelons of power. Leaders fear social explosion and that is what drives them to put more money into"maintaining stability" to the point that one wonders if the only real enemy of the Communist Party is the entire Chinese people.
There exists a minority of influential officials within the Party who would like to see real political reforms. Hu Deping, son of Hu Yaobang, whose death in1989 had caused the most important movement of democratic protest of the last forty years, symbolizes the desire for openness.
The people around him insist on the need to begin to redistribute wealth, while laying the foundations of a true democracy-- not the"democracy to the characteristics of China" beloved by Hu Jintao, the predecessor Xi Jinping.
But the time for implementing political reforms may be already passed. As is colloquially said in Chinese:"If the Communist Party reforms, it will be finished. If the party does not reform, China will be finished." The reason that China did not follow the steps of the democratic development of former communist countries of the West is because the emerged wealthy class is worried about losing its vested interest, while the poor still hope to soon reach some easement.
For some, the blind desire to succeed made them accept indecent working conditions and wages; while for others, the fear of losing their acquired wealth makes them disillusioned. So, each day that passes is a day gained...
* THE RICHEST HAVE ALREADY EMIGRATED*
Meanwhile, according to a study published in the Hurun Report in July2012, more than60% of the richest Chinese have already emigrated or filled out the forms necessary to emigrate, while more than85% of them have sent their children to study the best universities abroad. Social polarization is growing.
According to the Gini coefficient, which calculates social inequality on a scale of0-1, any number greater than0.4 is a harbinger of social unrest. The Chinese coefficient was already close to0.5 at the end2012. If we rely on these numbers, widespread social revolt can no longer be delayed in China, which would explain the anxiousness of billionaires and senior party officials.
In fact, President Xi Jinping is completely surrounded by peers and its bureaucracy. The proposals made by Xi when he took power in November2012 to remove administrative detention camps called"laojiao" have fizzled. Some provinces have implemented this decision, some have not, and nobody knows the rest of the story...
Officials and senior executives have too much to lose if the party embarked on political reform; what's more, nobody knows what would happen if a new member of the party leadership were to fall under the law.
Bo Xilai, who was sent to life in prison right before this3rd plenum, was an example. What his successor will do probably will involve force, rather than waiting quietly for arrest and certain conviction.
* CORRUPTION AND FORTUNE OF OFFICERS*
Indeed, the information becomes more accurate about the wealth and causes a growing indignation. In June, Bloomberg News estimated the wealth of the family clan of Xi Jinping to be somewhere near$500 million. In October, the New York Times published its continued investigation on the wealth of the clan of former prime minister Wen Jiabao valued at a total of"at least$2.7 billion". The sites in English and Chinese of both media are now completely blocked.
The evils of corruption and nepotism yet explode in everyone's eyes. How to explain how a simple police commissioner in a district of Shanghai was taken with$2 million in cash hidden in his drawers? Is it because he was in the Jing'an District, which is primarily occupied by Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian businessmen?
Recent explosions in Tiananmen Square and the recent attacks that occurred in Shanxi Province and elsewhere are the first symptoms of a major social crisis. Facing a dictatorship that applies violence without a bottom line, will the pacifist slogan"peaceful, rational and non-violence" by the activists in Tiananmen Square in1989 be able to replay again?
- Marie Holzman(sinologist) and Wei Jingsheng(former dissident)
Wei Jingsheng is a prominent political dissident to Deng Xiaoping's policy. He was imprisoned from1979 to1997. He currently lives in exile in the United States.
Marie Holzman is a Sinologist and president of Solidarité Chine. She is also co-author with Bernard Debord's biography"Wei Jingsheng, an inflexible Chinese"(Blue China,2005).
