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Quarterly Chronicle and Documentation Quarterly Chronicle and Documentation (April–June 2000) Abbreviations FE —British Broadcasting Corporation, Summary of World Broad- casts, Part 3: Asia Pacific FEW —Weekly Economic Report XHNA—Xinhua (New China) News Agency ZTS —Zhongguo tongxun she (China Reporting Agency), Hong Kong ZXS —Zhongguo xinwen she (China News Agency), Beijing RMRB —Renmin ribao (People’s Daily) 1. Internal developments (a) The 15th Session of the Ninth National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee (b) Party Affairs; Political and Ideological Developments (c) Economic Affairs (d) Miscellaneous (Education and Manpower; Minorities) (e) Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) 2. Foreign Relations (a) Diplomatic Tours (b) Countries, Territories and Regions (c) International Organizations 1. Internal Developments (a) The 15th Session of the Ninth NPC Standing Committee The 15th Session of the Ninth NPC Standing Committee took place in Beijing between 25 and 29 April. Delegates received a State Council report on progress towards China’s entry into the World Trade Organiza- tion (WTO), and examined five draft laws. Xinhua revealed that the ‘Draft Interpretation of Section Two of Article 93 of the Criminal Law’ was a source of controversy among delegates, who differed in their understanding of the reference to “other personnel performing official business according to law” in the legislation (FE/3829). In particular, it was argued that uncertainty about whether such personnel included personnel of villagers’ committees and other grassroots organizations had made it difficult to adjudicate on crimes committed by members of such committees and organizations. It was agreed that in order to remove such uncertainty, such persons would henceforth be classified as “personnel engaged in public service.” A propos the State Council report on developments affecting China’s impending admission to the WTO, Li Peng (Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee) noted that accession was essential in order to facilitate further economic reform and the establishment of a socialist market economy in China. Li recognized that China must address the The China Quarterly, 2000 884 The China Quarterly challenges of globalization, but he also insisted that membership of the WTO must accommodate “our own principles.” He also drew attention to the need to revise and reinterpret existing laws in order to make them more amenable to the changed circumstances in which China found itself. He noted that many of those reflected the unique historical background against which China had embarked on the task of transforming itself from a centrally-planned system to a market-orientated economy. The outcome was that they were less than appropriate to the new environment – and in some cases, “contrary to reality.” Li described his colleagues’ decision to remove Cheng Kejie from his position as Vice-Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee as evidence of the CCP Central Committee’s determination to maintain control of the Party, to govern in accordance with the law and to take punitive action against those found guilty of corruption. He described Cheng as someone who had taken “huge bribes and sought illegitimate interests” (FE/3829; see also FE/3830 for details of other removals and appointments). Standing Committee delegates approved the amended Air Pollution Prevention and Treatment Law (to become effective from 1 September 2000). This new environmental protection legislation was seen as being vital to the maintenance of public health and of sustainable economic and social development (FE/3830). (b) Party Affairs; Political and Ideological Developments Various reports during the quarter made reference to Jiang Zemin’s tour of Guangdong province (21–25 February 2000) and his advocacy of a smaller, tighter Party that would be representative of “advanced social forces, advanced culture, and the interests of the people.” From such comments had emerged a new campaign, designated the “three represen- tations.” Against the background of Jiang’s remarks, a XHNA commentary stressed the importance of upholding the correct Party line – one that was “imbued with the spirit of realism, but retaining all that is finest in Chinese culture” (FE/3822). The latter emphasis highlighted the import- ance of spiritual, as well as material civilization. Also echoing Jiang’s remarks in Guangdong, the commentary stressed that the current mem- bership of the Chinese Communist Party, numbered at some 60 million, was too large and required streamlining. Jiang’s comments quickly became the basis of a campaign and in April Vice-President Hu Jintao described the “three representations” as a fresh summation of the nature, goals and basic tasks of the CCP. Their ideological importance was underlined in Hu’s reference to Jiang having made an original contribution to the further development of Marxist theory on Party building. Hu noted too that careful study of the “three representations” would facilitate the implementation of the ongoing “three stresses” ideological campaign, with its emphasis on study, politics and healthy trends (FE/3822; and see FE/3823, 3824, 3836 and 3839). An authoritative journal subsequently stressed the importance of the Quarterly Chronicle and Documentation 885 new “three representations” ideological campaign (Qiushi (Seeking Truth) FE/3833). It argued that its successful implementation promised to con- tribute markedly to needed improvements in ideology, work style, organi- zation, discipline and leadership within the Party. In May, a circular issued by the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Supervision called for intensified study of Jiang’s “three representations,” which it described as offering a “new view of the CCP’s nature, goal and historic mission, a development of Marxist party-building theory and the new requirements for the whole Party in the new situation” (FE/3838; and see the editorial in RMRB, 22 May). Mean- while, a Hong Kong source suggested that the “three representations” would be written into the proceedings of the next (16th) Party Congress as “Jiang Zemin theory” (Jingji ribao (Economic Daily), 1 June in FE/3861). The activities of the falungong sect continued to be a major preoccu- pation of the central authorities. On the first anniversary of the demon- stration by more than 10,000 falungong practitioners outside Zhongnanhai (25 April), an unconfirmed report in a Hong Kong source (Ming Pao (Mingbao) web site) noted that state and public security departments in China had been urged to take vigorous action against falungong elements in the interests of preserving social and political stability (FE/3824). It quoted Luo Gan to the effect that the “Falun Gong cult” had allied itself with “international anti-China forces,” which advo- cated Tibetan independence and accelerated democratization in China. This was the background against which 2000 had supposedly been designated as “qigong consolidation year.” On 9 May, an article in People’s Daily admitted that the anti-falungong government campaign notwithstanding, the activities of the sect contin- ued to pose a political threat to the authorities in Beijing, while undermin- ing national stability and unity. The article described falungong as a “tight-knit organization [having] clear-cut political aims, and … an out-and-out cult opposed to science, society, mankind and the govern- ment” (RMRB, 9 May in FE/3836). The following day, Xinhua reviewed the previous year’sofficial campaign against falungong. It revealed that as of 25 March, courts at various levels throughout China had handled 91 cases involving falungong members, meting out punishment to 81 per- sons (FE/3838; and see FE/3846 for a report from Hong Kong on the death of a falungong practitioner). (For reports on falungong demon- stration in Hong Kong, see FE/3838 and 3840.) For details of a number of State Council removals and appointments at vice-ministerial level, see FE/3836. (c) Economic Affairs A spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics claimed that devel- opments during the first quarter gave evidence of an economic upturn and predicted that GDP growth during 2000 would exceed that of the previous year. He argued that the continued implementation of proactive fiscal policy measures, an expansion of exports, increasing confidence 886 The China Quarterly among both consumers and investors and the rapid development of hi-tech industries all would assist in maintaining the momentum of economic growth (FEW/0637; but see also a NPC Finance and Economic Committee source on continuing problems associated with a persistent lack of domestic demand in ibid.). Economic results for the first quarter (Q1) revealed a rise of 10.7 per cent in industrial value-added (but only 8.6 per cent for state-owned enterprises). The growth of heavy industry (11.5 per cent) exceeded that of light industry (9.8 per cent). During January–March, contractual foreign direct investment (FDI) rose by 27 per cent, although utilized FDI fell by 2.7 per cent (FE/3814). Elsewhere, it was reported that Q1 GDP growth was 8.1 per cent while fixed asset investment increased modestly by 8.5 per cent (FE/3820 – see below for data on China’s foreign trade performance). A major decision of the previous year was the decision to accelerate economic development in the poor, less developed regions of China. A XHNA report (FE/3852) noted that the western development programme was proceeding well. It described the strategic initiative in the following terms: its basis would be infrastructural
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