THE "BALANCES" OF A HARMONIOUS SOCIETY: PERSPECTIVES OF A

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENGDU 000146 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/CM AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/6/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM SCUL CH SUBJECT: THE "BALANCES" OF A HARMONIOUS SOCIETY: PERSPECTIVES OF A SICHUAN POLITICAL SCIENTIST REF: CHENGDU 43 CHENGDU 00000146 001.2 OF 003 CLASSIFIED BY: James Boughner, Consul General, United States Consulate, Chengdu. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: In a recent meeting, the Director of the Sichuan Institute of Political Science said the core of the Chinese Government's Harmonious Society guiding philosophy is the balancing of various interests so everyone can enjoy the fruits of development. In addition, Harmonious Society strives to solve disputes, address morality there is already a "blueprint" containing goals for Harmonious Society, and those goals now need to be proactively implemented. The media is playing a supervision role, but is cautious because of China's "sensitive social differences." The New Socialist Countryside construct should be viewed as implementing concrete measures such as improvement of "citizen schools" and boarding schools in rural areas. With regard to problems associated with the elimination of the agricultural tax, the scholar observed that, although the direct burden on rural residents has been alleviated, rural villages are struggling and local governments are unable to pay their officials. Hu Jintao's "Socialist Core Value System" has accompanied the development of Harmonious Society in order to provide people with "spiritual guidance" and new rules and standards in the ideological field. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Guo Dan (strictly protect),Director of the Institute of Political Science at the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences (SASS) recently met with Washington visitors from the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) and Congenoff. We had a broad-ranging discussion of the "balances" sought by the Harmonious Society guiding philosophy as well as the concrete measures envisioned for the New Socialist Countryside. Harmonious Society Aims to Balance Interests -------------- ¶3. (C) Guo noted the core of the Harmonious Society guiding philosophy is the balancing of various interests so everyone can enjoy the fruits of development. Now more attention is paid to fairness and how to make development more equal, compared to the past when economic efficiency was the top goal. The philosophy was put forward because of the various unharmonious elements 
that arose from development -- serious social conflicts and the income gap between the rich and the poor. China's leaders believe the single-minded focus on GDP produced some of these problems. . . . To Solve Disputes -------------- ¶4. (C) In addition to finding balance with regard to development, Guo continued, Harmonious Society also seeks to solve disputes within society. He explained that there are five groups in Chinese society: workers, farmers, entrepreneurs, white-collar workers, and government officials. On the one hand, Guo asserted, the impetus for development should not be eliminated. Rather, disputes must be resolved through balance, by identifying differences, and by finding a "balance point" in society. Guo said that without this type of resolution, society will collapse. For example, in the National People's Congress (NPC) political scientists discussed the balance of representation in the Congress and decided the number of representatives of workers and farmers should increase. In this way, those citizens can express themselves. In provincial level People's Congresses, there should be representatives from the migrant community, Guo added. . . . To Address Morality in Chinese Society -------------- ¶5. (C) When queried whether Harmonious Society was intended to addressing morality in Chinese society, Guo responded that the appearance of new moral standards is due to the market economy. China went from neglecting the market economy to emphasizing it and focusing exclusively on development. This had an impact on all of society, although it is too early to say whether this is good or bad, Guo stated. In the past, GDP needed to be developed first because China was so underdeveloped. In contrast, the focus is now on "citizens first" (yi gongmin wei zhu),and there has been a change from efficiency-directed policy to fairness-directed policy. Guo said this shift in policy requires new moral standards, and a "reliance on past experience to show us the way." Responding to another question, he emphasized that it is incorrect to simply attribute the shift in Chinese morality to the "importation of Western values." While some people talk about an increase in selfishness from the CHENGDU 00000146 002.2 OF 003 emphasis on development, "I actually see the opposite trend," Guo said. Although some people are more selfish, others have in fact started paying more attention to disharmonious elements in society and to Chinese traditions. . . . And to Promote Balanced Development -------------- ¶6. (C) Citizens are more aware of the need for balanced development, both in terms of environmental balance and balance in other areas, Guo suggested. This is a movement away from the past concentration on solely economic development. When asked if China has achieved balanced development, Guo responded that many countries were pondering this same issue, countries such as Brazil and South Africa. At the 15th National Party Congress (NPC),there were a lot of economists discussing economic issues. In contrast, at the 16th NPC, social scientists attended in greater numbers and the 11th Five-Year Plan was passed. This is a very dynamic question, not a static question, Guo continued. The differentiation and gaps in society are increasing, so new policies will need to be developed. For example, Western China needs assistance from East China in order to implement the Great Western Development Strategy. How To Implement Harmonious Society Goals -------------- ¶7. (C) According to Guo, there is already a "blueprint" of goals for Harmonious Society, and those goals now need to be proactively implemented. He said the only way to resolve problems is to continue to adhere to the course of economic development. Many people used to think the government could organize and administer the economy. In fact, there is a lot of government impact on the economy in Western countries as well. But China needs to find a balance. Guo qualified his statement by adding, on one hand, some things should naturally be subjected to market forces, but the government interferes. On the other hand, some things that should be public services are currently being run by the marketplace. Harmonious Society and Freedom of Speech -------------- ¶8. (C) Responding to a question on the role of media in the Harmonious Society, Guo said the media is playing a supervision role currently, but it is cautious in its supervision because of China's "sensitive social differences." However, changes are still occurring due to media attention on specific issues. Turning to the question of citizen protests, Guo gave an example of The Chongqing party secretary who publicly spoke in favor of a protest taking place right outside his office. Guo thought this public statement of support for freedom of speech was "very impressive," but added that if there are protests outside his office every day, then he has failed to do his job. China's goal is to eliminate protests by eliminating the causes of protests, not by dispersing the protesters, Guo claimed. He opined that Chinese people have the same freedom to protest as citizens in the United States -- they just have to "apply for permission." Concrete Measures for a New Socialist Countryside -------------- -------------- ¶9. (C) When asked about the New Socialist Countryside construct, Guo said it was begun several years ago and has resulted in the implementation of "concrete measures." In the last two years, the government has been busy "taking over" the "citizen schools" (minban xuexiao) that typically have low-quality buildings and teachers. By paying the salaries of the teachers and constructing new buildings, the government is making the schools more stable. Now, in the poorest areas of Sichuan, the best buildings are always schools. The New Socialist Countryside program is also attacking the new problem of boarding schools by providing subsidies to boarders. Last year, the central government announced a policy doing away with fees in poor schools. In some pilot project areas of Sichuan, fees have been eliminated. Smaller Government -------------- ¶10. (C) Turning to another rural issue, Guo stated that the elimination of the agricultural tax and the special agricultural tax has relieved the direct burden on rural residents, but not on the rural villages (xiangzhen),because they now have debts. For this reason, it is necessary to reduce the size of the local governments. Due to lack of revenue, some local government officials work only half time. Some of these officials are "holding on" just because they want to retire and get their CHENGDU 00000146 003.2 OF 003 pensions. Guo stated that currently, about 60 to 80 percent of local officials' salaries are paid by the central government. Therefore, when the agricultural tax and special agricultural tax were eliminated, 20 to 40 percent of those salaries suddenly had no local funding. Guo suggested that some potential solutions -- none of which are ideal -- include the following: - Providing technical services to the peasants, and thereby earning service income. - Working half the month, like some younger and more energetic officials do, since they can find other work. - Merging different town organizations -- for instance, from ten members down to six; and - Lowering the number of officials through early retirement. Socialist Core Value System -------------- ¶11. (C) To conclude the meeting, Guo commented on the promotion of Hu Jintao's "Socialist Core Value System" during the development of Harmonious Society. He noted that people need to have "spiritual guidance" and there should be new rules and standards in the ideological field. The tenants of the Socialist Core Value System should be viewed dynamically. For instance, if one asks about Marxism (one of the tenants),they must understand Marxism in a modern way. The "Eight Honors and Eight Disgraces," another part of the Socialist Core Value System, is general guidance for the common people, but it only points out a direction, not a rule, Guo stated. "There are no absolutes." BOUGHNER