In one of several surprising and potentially welcome shifts in policy, China’s leaders announced Friday that they would relax China’s draconian one-child policy and end its brutal “re-education through labor” camps. They also outlined several ambitious economic initiatives that could make the country more hospitable to private enterprise in the coming years.
Even so, they were silent on when and how they would carry out these reforms, and they made clear that the nation would remain under firm, one-party rule, and that neither political dissent nor democracy would be tolerated, much less embraced, anytime soon.
China’s New Agenda
Editorials – Editorial Board – The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/opinion/sunday/chinas-new-agenda.html
In one of several surprising and potentially welcome shifts in policy, China’s leaders announced Friday that they would relax China’s draconian one-child policy and end its brutal “re-education through labor” camps. They also outlined several ambitious economic initiatives that could make the country more hospitable to private enterprise in the coming years.
Even so, they were silent on when and how they would carry out these reforms, and they made clear that the nation would remain under firm, one-party rule, and that neither political dissent nor democracy would be tolerated, much less embraced, anytime soon.
In a long statement issued Friday following the Central Committee conference, Beijing promised 60 reforms, some of which could significantly change China. The initiatives include plans to limit the use of the death penalty, allow private investors to start banks, give farmers more flexibility in leasing their land and crack down on pollution through new taxes and stricter enforcement of existing clean air regulations. “We must certainly have the courage and conviction to renew ourselves,” President Xi Jinping said.
As part of its new initiatives, the government will create two new oversight groups, one composed of senior officials charged with pushing through economic reforms, another that would resemble the U.S. National Security Council to oversee domestic security and foreign policy.
Since they took office last year, Mr. Xi and Prime Minister Li Keqiang have frequently spoken about the need for reforms in economic policy, while also making clear that they intend to strengthen the Communist Party’s authority. Mr. Xi has denounced Western constitutional democracy, and his officials have harassed and mistreated human rights defenders and political dissidents.
The announcement of a new national security panel suggests that Mr. Xi intends to strengthen his grip on the domestic security apparatus and the foreign affairs bureaucracy. It is always unwise to make snap judgments about where China’s leaders are headed since the system is so opaque. But there could be an upside to a new national security committee of high-level officials if it can rein in other Chinese officials eager for confrontation with neighbors like Japan, or if it can help coordinate a more effective response to climate change. But the greater fear now is that it will also serve as a vehicle for repression, making it easier for the authoritarian government to persecute Muslim protesters in Xinjiang, Buddhists in Tibet and critics in general.
Set against the government’s authoritarian record, the announcements on family size and labor camps are genuinely surprising. China’s one-child policy in particular has defined the state’s power to control individual lives. China first restricted childbirths in the 1970s because it feared that an exploding population imposed an unsustainable burden on economic development.
From time to time, the policy has been relaxed in some parts of the country and for certain ethnic minorities. But it has often been brutally applied to force women into abortions. The policy has been criticized not only by human rights advocates but by economists because it contributes to the aging of China’s population and its shrinking labor force. Under the new policy, couples who are both only children themselves will be allowed to have two children. As for forced “re-education,” introduced by Mao Zedong to lock away political opponents, Beijing now promises to give small-time criminals and political dissidents their day in court through community-based corrections systems instead of dispatching them to labor camps.
Chinese leaders have used similar meetings of top officials to outline major policy changes that are then fleshed out over the next several years. The leadership has not always succeeded in delivering on those promises. The previous regime led by President Hu Jintao, for instance, failed to reduce the economy’s unhealthy dependence on exports and investment and give greater emphasis to consumer spending.
But if carried through, some of the initiatives outlined in the latest meeting could significantly improve the lives of Chinese people.