Mar 5th 2004
From The Economist Global Agenda
“The prime minister of China seeks to reassure its hundreds of millions of poor peasants that they have not been forgotten in the country’s rush for wealth. What effect will this change of emphasis have on the economy?
TURN your eyes from the dramatic skyline of Shanghai and the glitter of Beijing and a rather different China becomes apparent: that of a largely agricultural country populated mostly by poor people. Of the country’s 1.3 billion people, some 900m are peasants. In a speech to the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament, on Friday March 5th, the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, made clear that he was speaking to this vast and neglected constituency, as well as to the 3,000 delegates in the Great Hall of the People. Increasingly, “the people” out there in the sticks have become aware of the growing gap between them and the rising middle class as China has rushed into the modern age”what Bill Gates calls “capitalism, but at an unprecedented speed”. These days, the government fears not so much new demands for democracy”students seem less rebellious than they once were”as anger rising from an underclass who want more money in their pockets.
Not that Mr Wen is turning the clock back ideologically. His promise to rural workers is the sort that might be offered by any western leader: tax cuts and more investment in the rural economy. Taxes for farm workers will be reduced bit by bit each year, and by 2009, Mr Wen claimed, many will pay no tax at all. They are promised better medical care and schooling. The rich-poor gap will not disappear; it will almost certainly widen. But at least the poor can feel that they have been taken notice of.”
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