In the New York Times, Jonathan Ansfield reports on calls for more transparency in the implementation of the government’s economic stimulus package:
A cluster of liberal Communist Party elders recently wrote to President Hu Jintao and the rest of the party leadership, seizing on the economic troubles and the need for more accountability to promote democratic reforms.
“We very much endorse the central government investment of 4 trillion yuan” — $586 billion — “to invigorate the economy,” they explained in the letter, dated Jan. 20, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.
“At the same time, we are extremely worried that the privileged and the corrupt will seize this opportunity to fatten themselves, damage the relationship between the party and the people, and intensify social conflict.”
They pressed for checks and balances on the recovery program. More sweepingly, they urged that state media be freed from censorship and courts allowed to operate without inference from the ruling party, reforms the party has repeatedly rejected in the past.
