Currently in China, it is generally acknowledged that many
diverse interest groups exist. In a recent study carried out by the
Guangzhou municipal government, experts pointed out that more
representatives from disadvantaged groups should be included into
the national political structure to help all the people fully
express their opinions, needs and ideas.
On November 9, 2007, a workshop was held in Guangzhou to probe
into the system in order to balance various interest groups and
form a harmonious society. Zhu Xiaodan, Party secretary of
Guangzhou and member of Guangdong Party Standing Committee,
initiated this study. Scholars engaged in social sciences from all
over the country and relevant government officials from Guangzhou
attended the workshop. According to Zou Dongtao, editor-in-chief of
the Social Sciences Academic Press and researcher of the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, the study seems rather "ahead of its
time".
Currently in China, it is generally acknowledged that many
diverse interest groups exist. Public opinion, however, differs
widely on how to categorize these groups and just how competitive
they are regarding each other. The Guangzhou study in some sense
shows that the Chinese government, or at least some local
governments inside economically developed areas, is working hard to
find solutions to keep the interests of different groups well
balanced.
Views of pioneer researchers
According to a study team at the Guangdong University for
Business Studies, Guangzhou has five powerful interest groups: a
group containing monopolized powers, a group with privileges, a
group engaged in renting businesses, a group living on grey incomes
from intermediary services, and a group of enterprises that have
completed their initial accumulation of capital. Now all of these
groups are expected further strengthen their power of acquiring
other interests. Take the real estate industry for example. In
2006, five of the 15 real estate tycoons of China were based in
Guangzhou; the city boasted the largest number of heavyweights in
the housing market. Professor Wu Jiaqing, leader of the study team
and president of Guangdong University for Business Studies,
asserted that it was not precise to divide powerful interest groups
into five categories. Nevertheless such a division was a
comparatively accurate reflection of the real situation.
According to another study team at the Guangzhou Municipal Party
School, people with higher incomes also possess more resources in
cultural, political and economic fields. With stronger economic
power, they prefer to seek cooperation with political and cultural
elites. The study team concluded in their report: "People with
higher incomes have stronger influences in the adoption and
implementation of public policies, as well as in the formation of
public opinion."
In this report, the disadvantaged people are also divided into
five categories. They are: laid-off workers, migrant workers, the
disabled, farmers deprived of lands, and retirees. A survey
indicated that in 2005, migrant workers in Guangzhou totaled some 5
million people, each with an average annual income of 11,000 yuan
(US$1,506). Of them, 51 percent had an income below 800 yuan per
month.
Furthermore, in a survey on Guangzhou's income distribution
structure and local residents' feeling of fairness, 76.4 percent of
the respondents said the gap in wealth in Guangzhou was "extremely
wide" or "comparatively wide", while in sharp contrast, only 2.2
percent felt that the gap was narrow or no gap existed at all. In
respond to the question: "What is your view on the wealth gap?"
17.2 percent said it was rational, with 44.4 percent feeling the
opposite.
According to Professor Wu Jiaqing, people at lower social levels
tend to have a stronger sense of unfairness. Completely at a loss
in the current society, they deeply believe that there must be
something unjust that leads to their misery.
On the other hand, people in the five powerful interest groups
are usually content with their lives. Most of them feel that the
distribution system is fair. Entrepreneurs in the private sector,
in particular, believe they deserve their current wealth and power;
it is a reward for their strenuous efforts in the past. They argue
that they have made great contributions to society by paying taxes
to help create more job opportunities. They firmly believe society
will suffer more without them. However, among these powerful
interest groups, there are also some people who empathize with
their peers who, they think, have been working equally as hard but
who have earned much less.
To the question on what leads to the wealth gap, 42.6 percent of
the respondents chose "different personal capabilities", 40.4
percent "corruption", 38.7 percent "industrial monopoly" and 33.8
percent "faulty legal system".
When being asked about government policies that protect the
interests of people having middle and low incomes, only 11.5
percent felt satisfied, while 45.3 percent were dissatisfied and
43.1 percent said that they were merely satisfied.
Based on the above figures, the study team at the Guangzhou
Municipal Party School concluded that Guangzhou was in danger of
witnessing imbalanced distribution of social interests. In some
specific fields, there are hidden contradictions between different
social groups, making them highly likely to generate unexpected
incidents. The team suggested that the government take effective
measures to curb the imbalanced distribution. Otherwise, "society
may become polarized and chaotic".
How does the distribution system go
imbalanced?
The report of Guangdong University for Business Studies starts
with this paragraph: "Economic interests are basic interests for
human beings. Therefore, the key to building a harmonious society
is to maintain harmony in regard to economic interests. In most
cases, an imbalanced society suffers more conflicts and
contradictions in distributing economic interests."
The imbalance of interest distribution in China emerged in the
early 1990s. Professor Wu Jiaqing attributed it to the change in
government policies. At that time, "allowing some people to get
rich first" was the only choice to create more social wealth. The
government had lofty plans in building a well-off society,
establishing a social welfare system and building a comprehensive
social security system. But all of these plans needed money. Given
this situation, China had no choice but to go through the initial
period of capital accumulation. What's more, when China started to
set up its market economy, the private sector was weak and
governments at various levels had to take the charge of exploring
business opportunities.
For Professor Wu, the government's dual role during the initial
days is a major factor for the current imbalance in distribution.
Today, in some places, governments are still closely associated
with capital funds. This has led to many problems in such fields as
land requisition, resident resettlement and reform of State-owned
enterprises.
To properly address the problems, the government must stay aloof
from business sectors and dedicate itself solely to public service.
A competent government should be a neutral organizer of
negotiations and an impartial judge of social disputes.
All over the world, many countries suffered from huge wealth
gaps but managed to narrow them down to a rational range. But
Professor Wu pointed out that these changes did not happen
spontaneously. Governments are obliged to intervene and direct this
course. The well-known "Latin American phenomenon" is a typical
result of laissez-faire.
For Wu, the imbalance in interest distribution is not
irrevocable, but it requires a huge amount of hard work. In the
past, people were more concerned about distribution results and
hence developed a strong demand for reforming the country's
economic system. However, Professor Wu said, if the country's
political, educational, healthcare and social security systems
remained unchanged, "there will be no equal opportunities, no equal
starts and no equal processes, and therefore, there will be no
equal results."
Currently, the most urgent problem in China is how to address
the subsistence problem for people existing at the bottom tier of
society. In developed countries, although there is a clear divide
between the rich and the poor, people at the bottom level need not
worry about food and clothing. But in China this still remains a
huge problem. "During the past two years, the government has made
more efforts to help the rural population and disadvantaged groups
in urban areas. Unfortunately, the government's power is limited.
At present, the most important issue revolves around increasing the
investment toward improving the social security system for
disadvantaged groups and in establishing the basic educational and
healthcare systems in rural areas," said Professor Wu.
Rise up to the challenge
On October 11, 2006, the Sixth Plenary Session of the 16th
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China approved the
Resolution on Some Major Issues Concerning Building up a Harmonious
Society. The document pointed out that China was going through
"drastic changes" regarding their economic system, social
structure, interest structure and social ideology respectively. Of
them, the change in interest structure indicated that the public
interest appeals were growing stronger, more diversified and more
complicated. With fast social development, social interests were
divided into several categories and people with similar interest
appeals formed a variety of interest groups. These groups differed
from each other in their aims and powers. They vied with each other
to influence the public policies so as to achieve some particular
goals.
In China, many people hold negative opinions about interest
groups. In their eyes, interest groups always try to lobby or
influence the government so as to achieve their private aims. In
the western world, however, the term "interest group" has no
negative connotation. Instead, it is an indispensable part of
democracy, because political policies and public decisions should
be made amidst the competition between various interest groups.
Only when all interest groups have the equal opportunity to express
their wills can a government acquire sufficient information for
scientific decision-making. In addition, when a government is in
close contact with a diversity of interest groups, it will feel the
pressure from all sides of the society and thus work harder to keep
itself within bounds.
It is indeed a basic rule that every interest group is pursuing
maximum self-interests. However, their pursuit will be strongly
protested by other interest groups if they go too far. Under such
circumstances, no interest group can do what they want freely. In
order to acquire as much power as possible, an interest group will
try to gain the support and consent of the other groups by offering
them concessions and special benefits.
Currently in China, the problem is that there are not enough
channels for the public to express their needs. On one hand, the
disadvantaged groups are suffering from a rather small voice in
society, while on the other hand, powerful interest groups,
possessing various resources, are capable of influencing political
decisions and public policies. Their interests are guaranteed by
the current political system and their powers grow stronger with
the support of political decisions and public policies. In some
particular cases, the powerful interest groups have gone as far as
"captivating" the government to adopt policies obviously in favor
of their private interests.
Therefore, before the competition of various interest groups
eventually rises to the surface, a system should be set up to
restrict their powers. Otherwise, the open competition of different
interest groups will put a spoke in the wheel of China's reform and
opening up.
With regard to the government, Professor Wu Jiaqing pointed out
there should be stricter policies on taxation and corresponding
measures for surveillance, so as to ensure a balanced distribution
of social wealth. Furthermore, the government should adopt more
labor laws and raise the entrepreneurs' awareness of social
responsibilities, thus maintaining a harmonious relationship
between labor and capital.
In order to change the current situation, more representatives
of the disadvantaged groups should be included into the national
political structure. In the election of delegates to the National
People's Congress, measures should be taken to ensure that the
proportion of delegates to rural population is the same with the
proportion of delegates to urban population.
Concerning China's specific conditions, it is urgent to develop
a mechanism in line with other international practices, in which
the disadvantaged group can express their wills and pursue their
interests freely.
In modern society, well-organized interest groups are effective
in expressing their needs, because it is impossible for the
government to talk with individuals one after another. With this
regard, Professor Wu Jiaqing suggested "great efforts should be
made to help the disadvantaged groups set up or reform their own
organizations, such as labor unions, farmer's associations,
chambers of commerce, teacher's associations and legal societies,
and these organizations should bear the responsibility of
representing their members to express their wills to the
government."
(China.org.cn by Chen Xia, January 18, 2008)?