Teaching Comparative

We will still have to check back on this one

Policy making in China is obviously not transparent. Evidently it's not even transparent to all of those involved in making policy.

Should we ask, "Who's in charge?" It doesn't seem that we can say, "Hu's in charge."

Remember the announcement about the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee meeting? (See Check back in awhile on this)

Or remember the announcement earlier this week about allowing farmers some rights to lease land? (See Property Rights in China)

By the way, the news stories about this meeting and rural development have all disappeared from the Xinhua web site.

Well, check this story from the Los Angeles Times:

China land reform disappears from radar

"Leaders in Beijing were expected to enact a bold program allowing farmers to eventually buy, sell or lease their fields. But the issue wasn't even mentioned in the meeting's closing statement.

"A funny thing happened on the way to the Third Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee, where China's Communist Party leaders were expected to finally enact a bold land reform program allowing farmers eventually to buy, sell or lease their fields.

"Coverage of reform issues had been stepped up in the official press. And President Hu Jintao made a high-profile trip to rural Anhui province, where state media said he told farmers that they would be able to transfer their land rights.

"Yet by the time the closed-door meeting wrapped up Sunday, the issue had all but disappeared from public view. It wasn't even mentioned in the final communique from the 368-member decision-making body.

"That has led some analysts to speculate that hard-liners who benefit from the status quo managed to fight off the reforms. Others say that, given the vague nature of many Chinese official statements, the measures still may be implemented.

"At stake is a system of ownership restrictions that hinders China's 740 million farmers trying to improve productivity, often leaving them at the mercy of corrupt local party officials...

"Some Communist hard-liners say enhanced ownership rights would solidify Western capitalism, undercutting the party's grip on power. Others argue that they would prompt the mostly uneducated farmers to sell their land for a song, and eventually drift into the cities, homeless and penniless...

"Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao spent much of their careers in the countryside. They understand the farmers' plight and want to make changes, said a long-standing Communist Party member who asked not to be identified.

"But this is an extremely complex social problem, he said, and intent isn't enough. It requires a solid legal framework and the political will to implement such wide-ranging change...

"In a short statement Sunday, China's state news agency said the Central Committee passed a package of rural policies and discussed the global financial crisis. But it made no mention of land reform. The communique referred vaguely to 'raising land yields.'"

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Labels: China, leadership, politics

posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:13 AM