A widening income gap that threatens to tear China apart is likely to be a top agenda item when its parliament kicks off its annual full meeting next weekend.
The 3,000 delegates to the National People's Congress (NPC) will arrive this week on trains and planes from across the nation, just as tensions between the haves and the have-nots seem to be reaching a critical level.
"There is genuine concern. China's leaders certainly accord priority to the maintenance of political and social stability," said Joseph Cheng (
PHOTO: AFP
Signs are multiplying that Chinese society is unraveling at the seams, especially in rural areas where 715 million people are groaning under the twin weights of abusive officialdom and economic growth a fraction of that in the cities.
Forty million farmers have lost their land as ever larger areas are being appropriated for industrial and residential uses, and many are enraged over what they see as inadequate compensation.
"A lot of the older peasants, how can they find other employment? They have lost their land, they have no money, they have no social security, they cannot find jobs. There are bound to be serious, serious social problems," Cheng said.
"So the issue of proper compensation for the peasants whose land has been appropriated by the authorities, as well as the issue of employment for them, including job training, becomes a very, very important issue," he said.
The Chinese government has promised to help the farmers, and Premier Wen Jiabao's (溫家寶) work report, to be delivered on the first day of the NPC gathering on March 5, could provide clues about what exactly it plans to do.
A more precise indication of how much it is willing to spend on solving the problem could emerge from the detailed government budget to be unveiled by Finance Minister Jin Renqing (
Rural issues could also be a focus for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a toothless advisory body that begins meeting on Friday.
The 11th five-year plan that kicks off this year will be on the NPC's agenda, and the heated discussions will serve to show the blueprint is more than just a relic.
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