Home Is Where The Heart Dwells

Obviously the “harmonious society” is a term of euphemism to emphasize pacifying possible rebellious intentions against the ruling party. And the party has correctly identified one of the sources where such intentions come from: inequality, or another word, the gap between rich and poor. The question is, whether it is possible for the New Millennium Plan to narrow the gap.

A professor evolved in policy-making for a long time, whom I met a couple of days ago, told me that several new projects would be introduced next year, such as low-income social security in rural area and Medicare reform, though not so much could be done to narrow the gap.

The identified low-income population is 20 million, so hopefully 20 billion RMB will be enough to achieve the goal, despite the Ministry of Treasure opposed by all means.

The Medicare system will cover all primary treatment, adopting some British model. And one has to be responsible for all expensive treatment by oneself.

Both of the two measures serve to pacify the lower class, whose dissatisfaction has been shown over the past years through group protests and other “social problems” in the eyes of the Chinese CP leaders. But neither will reduce the gap between rich and poor.

Policies work in the West to reduce the gap can not be applied in China, due to the nature of this government. For example, strengthening the collection of individual income tax under current tax law will serve the purpose, but this government will never do it. The direct reason is that officials themselves will be taxed more. The ultimate reason lies in that today many officials have been converted to advocate for rich men, thanks to the everyday bribery, more and more common interest, and their increasing political influence.

Excerpts of “China party praises Hu’s harmony doctrine”

Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:23 AM EDT

From http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArt…

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“A four-day session of the ruling party’s Central Committee — a panel of some 350 members — ended by approving a decision “on constructing a socialist harmonious society” and saying the 17th Party Congress would convene later next year, the official Xinhua news agency reported.”

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“Hu has summed up his agenda by calling for a society that narrows social inequality. The Central Committee’s decision will further overshadow the legacy of Hu’s predecessor, Jiang Zemin, who ushered capitalists into the Communist Party.

The party will focus on improving China’s legal system, narrowing the gap between rich and poor, and improving government services, Xinhua said.”

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