TWO CPPCC DEPUTIES SAY DEMOCRACY IS ON THE WAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 001776 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2017 TAGS: PGOV ECON EFIN SOCI PREL CH SUBJECT: TWO CPPCC DEPUTIES SAY DEMOCRACY IS ON THE WAY REF: 06 BEIJING 23905 Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY MINISTER COUNSELOR FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS RO BERT LUKE; REASON 1.4 (B) AND (D). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) Two Delegates to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) predicted to Econoff that China will be more democratic within a generation with or without the support of the Communist Party. Businessman Wang Chaobin said his positive experience in the CPPCC with offering recommendations to the Central Government has reinforced his view that democracy is developing in China. Both delegates lamented, however, the poor state of education in China, particularly in rural areas, and suggested that the low quality of education would hinder democratic progress. The Delegates, both of whom are entrepreneurs, said they admire the United States and have used their considerable wealth to maintain strong connections to the United States as well as China. END SUMMARY. PROGRESS AT THE "TWO MEETINGS" -------------- ¶2. (C) Han Zhengfa, Chairman of the Zhengye Group and a CPPCC Delegate from Changchun, Jilin Province, and Wang Chaobin, Chairman of the Board of Henan Taixin Estate Company and a CPPCC Delegate from Zhengzhou, Henan Province, told Econoff that this year's CPPCC sessions indicate that China is making progress on political and economic reforms. Han and Wang, participating in the CPPCC annual session for the 10th and 13th consecutive years respectively, said China is heading in the right direction, particularly under Hu's and Wen's leadership. ¶3. (C) Wang claimed that he has had some success using the CPPCC to offer policy recommendations to the Central Government. As a member of the National Committee of the 10th CPPCC, Wang received national media attention for proposing to Premier Wen Jiabao that agricultural taxes be reduced or eliminated (see reftel). During the 2007 March session of the CPPCC, Wang said he made two recommendations, both of which were well received by other Deputies. Wang recommended during the session that banks be allowed to offer low-interest loans over longer periods of time in the real estate sector in order to solve the problem of the high cost of housing for average citizens. His other proposal -- to refrain from levying taxes on the interest earned on bank deposits -- was reported by the Chinese media. DEMOCRACY ON THE WAY? -------------- ¶4. (C) Wang argued that China's government will become more democratic in the next 15 years as a new generation comes of age. The younger generation is used to having choices, Wang said, and democracy will come to China "one way or another." The question for the Communist Party is whether the Party wants to be part of the problem or part of the solution. The Party has an opportunity to be an agent for positive change, Wang asserted. According to Wang, though some interpreted Premier Wen Jiabao's Renmin Ribao article prior to the "Two Meetings" as saying that democracy in China is one hundred years away, this does not necessarily mean one hundred years from now; the process may even have started before the 1949 Communist Revolution. The Western Press has misinterpreted Wen's statement, Wang said. ¶5. (C) Wang and Han both worried, however, that the poor state of education in China potentially would hinder China's democratic transition. Wang said that Henan Province, which is predominately rural, is a good example of a place where a large proportion of educated people are leaving the countryside for the cities to work, leaving people behind who do not value education. Many children in rural areas do not attend school, either because there are no schools in close proximity or because local officials continue to charge random fees despite Central Government policy dictating that tuition be waived. PARTY'S WEALTHY KEEPING ONE FOOT IN THE UNITED STATES -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) Wang and Han, both on Forbes' List of China's 400 Richest Entrepreneurs (Wang's net worth is USD 133 million and Han's is USD 158 million) both said they admire the United States for its democratic government, and they both maintain close ties to the United States. Wang, who also owns property in Long Island, New York, hosted President Clinton during a visit to Zhengzhou in 2005, and his son BEIJING 00001776 002 OF 002 recently graduated from Emory University in Atlanta. Han's immigrant visa application recently was approved, and he showed Econoff his letter from the National Visa Center. Han hopes the move to the United States will be a good experience for his three teenaged sons. RANDT RANDT