The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) opened a major four-day economic meeting in Beijing yesterday, with efforts to narrow the widening divide between rich and poor likely to dominate the agenda.
The plenary session of the party's central committee will "discuss suggestions" on the 2006-2010 five-year economic development plan, with a view toward "building a harmonious society," the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Against a background of widespread corruption and growing income disparities between rich and poor, President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) has been emphasizing the "harmonious society" theme over the past year.
Last month, state media cited a government study as saying the most affluent one-fifth of China's population earns 50 percent of total income, with the bottom one-fifth taking home only 4.7 percent.
Reforms launched in 1978 have fueled decades of enormous economic development that have transformed Chinese society. Its economy grew by a blistering 9.5 percent in 2003 and last year.
But its rural population -- about 800 million people -- has for the most part been left out of the boom, and many in that group have been protesting widespread graft, industrial pollution and illegal seizures of land for development.
The protests have been growing in regularity and aggression.
Clashes between police and citizens are becoming more violence as thousands -- sometimes tens of thousands -- of unhappy laborers or farmers demonstrate to air their frustration.
Officers often beat and jail protesters, who are also growing bolder in their retaliation against authorities.
Last year, the government logged 74,000 major protests nationwide, a stunning figure in a country so determined to curb potential unrest that it puts dissidents under house arrest around sensitive political anniversaries and tightly watches Internet content.
The closed-door plenum at the Soviet-era Jingxi Hotel in Beijing will be a test of whether Hu, 62, has fully consolidated power after replacing Jiang Zemin (江澤民), 79, as Party chief in 2002, state president in 2003 and military chief last year.
It is Hu's first plenum without his influential predecessor holding some form of office, although Jiang has stacked the Party's upper echelons with his allies.
One focus will be on whether Hu can manoeuvre protege Li Keqiang (
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
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