Prior to China’s 17th National People’s Congress, Conflicts Are Getting Fiercer

According to Taiwan’s United Daily News on August 23, China has been suffering various conflicts regarding ideologies prior to the 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which will decide the future of China for the next five years.

It is said that Chinese President Hu Jintao will continue to support the “Chinese-style socialism” June 25 this year and promote his science development plan. However, the ideology conflicts in China are not lessening.

The newspaper said the Chinese Communist Party decided to hold the 17th National People’s Congress for a week on October 8-14 in Beijing.

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When it comes to ideology conflicts, major opinions are divided into two categories: one is called “New Right” and the other is called “New Left.”

The former advocates not only Deng Shaoping’s reforms, but also political reforms like democracy, arguing that only when the party gives up its one party dictatorship can stable development be guaranteed.

Yu Keping, Hu Jintao’s political assistant, Xie Tao, a Chinese Communist Party official, and former vice president of Renmin University, Lu Shilei, professor at National School of Administration, and former vice prime minister Tian Jiyun are representatives of this social reform ideology.

Yu’s essay titled “Democracy is right” last October threw Chinese political society into shock as it urged that China should take up democracy even if it leads to confusion. Xie Tao added, “A social democracy like Sweden’s should be China’s model.”

Meanwhile, the latter opinion is quite opposite to the former one. It urges a return to a planned economy system because current corruption levels and the gap between the rich and poor are being made worse by the open economy.

Ma Bin, former adviser to the State Council`s Center on Development Research, Qin Zhongda, a former minister of Chemical Industry, and Li Chengrui, former director of China`s Statistics Bureau are representing the opinion. They say that the gap between people in cities and rural areas are a side effect that is caused by the open economy, and that reality is rattling the communist system.

There is a middle ground that is not against an open economy but that stresses that the gap between the poor and the rich and the increase in corruption is created by the open economy system. They are for one party rule but ask for special measures to solve current social problems.

Hu Jintao’s Chinese-style socialism is different from these opinions. Hu declared his four basic principals in his June 25 dialogue: social reconciliation, open economy, scientific development and social harmony, and “Xiao Kang society” in which everyone in China can lead their lives without much financial difficulty.

A source from Beijing said, “Hu mentioned social reconciliation and an open economy for the conservatives, democracy for liberals, and open economy for those in the middle. Hu wants to stifle conflicts before the congress opens.”

However, Hu is reportedly interested in the liberals’ opinions the most. According to the Taiwanese newspaper, Hu said “Hao, hao,” which means good in Chinese, after reading a report written by Xie Tao when he visited former general secretary Hu Yaobang’s wife Li Zhao.

In contrast, Hu ordered a homepage run by 17 conservative officials shut down after they sent a public letter saying, “Reform does not always mean something good” to Hu Jintao.

orionha@donga.com