About 100 ethnic minority
members of the 10th National Committee of the Chinese
People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top
advisory body, held a joint panel discussion meeting on March 7
about the 2004 work report of the State Council, China's
cabinet.
Participants expressed appreciation of what
the government did last year to help promote the development
of areas inhabited by minority ethnic
groups. They also made suggestions for further
work.
Shen Chu, an ethnic Gelo
CPPCC member who is vice mayor of Zunyi City, Guizhou Province,
southwest China, said, “I quite agree with what
Premier Wen said on western development. And I think the enactment
of a national law on western development should be accelerated to
give more sustainability and authority to the government’s current
policies.
“As the increase of funds in the form of
transfer payments and national debt allocated by central government
to western regions begins to slow down, new funding channels should
be established to ensure that there is no less money available for
western development.”
He also advised central government to give a
green light to western energy development projects as long as they
do not violate the “scientific development concept” or loosen
controls over the approval of industrial land use.
Ma Sangang, an ethnic Hui
CPPCC member who is vice secretary of the Disciplinary Inspection
Commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Committee of
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Ma Yuxiang, also an ethnic
Hui CPPCC member who is a law professor at Northwest
Minorities University in Lanzhou, Gansu Province in northwest
China, echoed Shen’s view on the premier’s pledge of support
for western development and advised central government to give
special consideration to the western regions when implementing
macroeconomic policies. They said macro-control measures had had
negative effects on development in the west such as widening the
wealth gap between it and the east.
Ma Yuxiang urged faster development of
education and better environmental protection in areas
inhabited by minority ethnic groups.
He also said special attention should be paid to
the brain drain to the country’s developed areas and the
development of the 22 smaller ethnic groups that each have a
population of less than 100,000.
He proposed a number of laws and regulations
relating to ethnic minority groups, ranging from
implementing regulations on regional autonomy to two laws on
promotion of education for ethnic minority groups and promotion of
development for widely scattered ethnic minority populations.
Bayar-Mend, an ethnic Mongolian
CPPCC member who is head of the Mongolian Studies School at Inner
Mongolian University, said, “Deserts now account for about 18
percent of China’s territory and desertification costs over 50
billion yuan (US$6.04 billion) annually. As most of the deserts lie
in northwest and north China, the grasslands there, including those
in Inner Mongolia, are under serious threat of desertification and
are suffering continuous decline of productivity. I suggest that
local people and interested enterprises join hands to combat
desertification and develop the sand and grass industries, which
should be included in the 11th Five-year Plan for the national
economic and social development starting next year.”
Cao Yi, an ethnic Tujia
CPPCC member who is vice governor of Enshi Tujia, Miao Autonomous
Prefecture, Hubei Province in central China, said, “I’m from
Hubei’s only region included in the western development plan. I
think central government and developed areas can provide more
timely help for impoverished western regions, especially in
education, science and technology and culture. Previously the
emphasis was put on building infrastructure.
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“I have several specific suggestions: one, to
allocate special funds to ensure regular supply of drinking water
for schools in drought-prone mountain areas inhabited by minority
ethnic groups; second, to renovate school buildings in poor rural
areas inhabited by ethnic minority groups; third, to improve public
health services in such areas because many remote villages don’t
have their own clinics or doctors and villagers usually have to
travel tens of kilometers to visit a hospital; fourth, to set up
special funds for the rescue of ethnic cultures as they are
vanishing fast; fifth, to enhance support for the development of
special agricultural products, such as herbal medicines, and to
foster their growth into local pillar industries.”
Xen Tsa Tenzang Chodach, an ethnic Tibetan
CPPCC member who is vice chairman of the Shannan Prefecture
Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
in Tibet Autonomous Region, also called for better medical care
services in areas inhabited by minority ethnic
groups.
Gao Guocai, an ethnic Li
CPPCC member who is vice mayor of Sanya City, Hainan Province,
south China, said more attention should be given to the increasing
numbers of petitions resulting from civil affairs mishandled by
local governments.
He said disputes over unemployment, land, social
security, unequal market status, unpaid wages and complaints about
local leaders gave rise to most petitions.
He urged local officials to intensify study of the
law and the petition system and called for empowering petition
departments to handle them more independently.
Lin Xing, an ethnic Jing
CPPCC member who is vice mayor of Fangchenggang City of Guangxi
Zhuang Autonomous Region, southwest China, requested that central
government give western border areas preferential policies for
partial exemption from tariffs.
Okhap Sulayman, an ethnic Kazak
CPPCC member who is former vice secretary of the Disciplinary
Inspection Commission of the CPC Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional
Committee in northwest China, suggested more efficient promotion
and application of agricultural science and technology to increase
farming productivity in areas inhabited by minority ethnic
groups.
Yang Jianqiang, vice minister of the State Ethnic
Affairs Commission, listened to the speeches of the CPPCC members
and said that central government highly values the development of
areas inhabited by minority ethnic groups and will strengthen its
support for them in the 11th Five-year Plan. He also urged minority
ethnic groups to seize opportunities to accelerate their own
development.
(China.org.cn by staff reporter Chen Chao, March 9,
2005)