SICHUAN SCHOLARS ON HARMONIOUS SOCIETY'S ROLE IN POLITICS,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 CHENGDU 000043

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/8/2032
TAGS: PGOV SOCI PHUM KIRF CH
SUBJECT: SICHUAN SCHOLARS ON HARMONIOUS SOCIETY'S ROLE IN POLITICS,
RURAL GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY

REF: CHENGDU 31

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CLASSIFIED BY: James A. Boughner, Consul General, Chengdu,
Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)




1. (C) Summary: Scholars from the Sichuan Academy of Social
Science described to a visiting EAP Desk Officer how the
Harmonious Society "guiding philosophy" is being implemented at
the provincial level. The policy plays an important role in
democratic experiments at the local level, including reform of
the Standing Committee and "open nomination, open selection"
systems, changes to the cadre evaluation and promotion system,
and implementation of the new Supervision Law. According to one
scholar, in rural areas, the ideology is manifesting itself in
increasing centralization and the development of social welfare
policies on health insurance and care for the elderly. In the
development of civil society, Sichuan has experienced growth of
some non-governmental organizations, even though the environment
is still restrictive for many groups, especially religious
organizations. The scholars were open in describing the
abstractness of the Harmonious Society concept, but also
acknowledged the ideology's positive aspects of equality,
justice, rule of law, security, and democracy as guideposts for
current experiments and reform in the political and social
realms. End Summary.


2. (C) On January 18 CONGENOFF and visiting EAP Desk Officer
Marc Abramson met with Guo Dan, Du Shouhu and Guo Hong, scholars
from the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences (SASS) (strictly
protect all),to discuss implementation of the "Harmonious
Society." The scholars commented on the policy's effects on
political experiments, rural governance and social welfare, and
the development of civil society.

Harmonious Society
--------------

3. (C) All three scholars described the Harmonious Society
doctrine as a guiding philosophy or a goal, and linked it to
"Scientific Development," the means to achieving the goal. One
scholar described the relationship as "mutually reinforcing."
Guo Dan, Director of the SASS Political Research Institute, said
the Sichuan leadership has a clear understanding of Harmonious
Society and strongly supports its goals. Provincial leaders are
therefore trying to somewhat de-emphasize GDP growth and "clean
up" (qingli) the province's development zones. (Comment:
"Development zones" are frequently sites of the worst kinds of
corruption, expropriation of land, environmental pollution, and
other abuses. End comment.)


4. (C) Simultaneously, local level governments have strongly
identified (rentong) with Harmonious Society, in part because it
presages a relaxation of many of the tensions currently
bedeviling party-government-people relations. Farmers have
strongly welcomed the doctrine of Harmonious Society, while
local cadres are now thinking much more in terms of coordinating
policy and implementation across all sectors of government and
society. SASS Deputy Director Du Shouhu agreed that
coordination (xietiao),which also has a strong sense of
"harmonization," is the critical working concept, in the sense
of balancing competing interests and resolving central-local and
inter-departmental conflicts. He saw Harmonious Society as a
key step in acknowledging that people and institutions are
motivated by special interests, and then advancing to an
understanding that the government must promote "general" and
"overall" interests. Du complained in particular about
state-owned monopoly industries.


5. (C) Guo Hong, Director of the SASS Sociology Research
Institute, said Harmonious Society emphasizes "social
construction" (shehui jianshe). She welcomed Harmonious
Society's new emphasis on social issues and institutions, which
recognized the growth since the 1990s of a "social environment"
and "public interest society" that was mostly independent of the
state and the old state-dominated work-unit system, and was
instead being created through the operation of NGOs and other
civil society entities. She said she hoped the 17th Party
Congress would make the idea much more concrete through the
establishment of social programs.

Democratic Experiments in Sichuan
--------------

6. (C) Sichuan Province has always been at the forefront of
democratic experiments, notably in piloting a "Standing
Committee system" (changrenzhi) in local party congresses,
according to Guo Dan, Director of the SASS Political Research
Institute. This reform is currently being tested in several
locations in Sichuan, most famously in relatively rural Ya'an,

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but also in the more populous and urbanized prefecture of
Meishan. The reform aims to give a role to party congress
representatives beyond their normal responsibility to elect
local party committee members every five years (who then select
out of their number the smaller standing committee, led by the
party secretary and deputy secretaries.) Motivated by a desire
to balance out the over-concentration of power in the hands of
local party leaders, particularly the party secretary, the
changrenzhi grants inspection and oversight powers to the
representatives. Party congress representatives in these pilot
areas are allowed to contribute ideas when local regulations and
policies are being drafted and are also soliciting ideas
broadly, including outside party channels. The party congress
representatives will still not have the power to vote down
policies, however. While there are currently no plans to expand
this particular pilot, Guo Dan opined that it was an effective
way of pushing forward democracy.


7. (C) Guo Dan confirmed statements by party officials (reftel)
that the "secretaries working meeting" (bangong hui),a
decision-making body at the local level made up of the local
party secretary and deputy party secretaries, and more exclusive
than the party standing committee, is no longer operating. This
occurred as a natural outgrowth of national reform during the
2006-2007 election of new party committees at all levels which
mandated that the number of deputy party secretaries be reduced
from six or more to two in almost all instances. He noted the
main reason for the reduction was to reduce party-government
friction, clarify portfolios, and better delineate the division
of power at the local level. (Comment: Previously, the large
number of deputy party secretaries at any particular level of
government held particular portfolios and thus supervised
particular party and/or government offices, but their
supervisory powers were never clearly established. Now, one of
the two deputy secretaries is the head of government at that
particular level and he directly supervises working level
government offices in his capacity as government head, while the
other deputy secretary is mainly responsible for party affairs.
End comment.) At present, the standing committee is the main
decision-making body at the sub-provincial level. Guo Dan
stated that if the standing committee has a problem deciding
policy, then it will consult with the larger party committee.
Guo said that, in his opinion, the Party Committee should be the
decision-making body and have the power to control the Standing
Committee, but this is not currently happening.


8. (C) When asked about the progress of the "open nomination,
open selection" (gong tui gong xuan) reform (by which party
secretaries are selected with significant input from and

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controlled voting by the general public and rank and file party
members) Guo Dan said it was taking place in Sichuan only at the
town/township (xiangzhen) level and that the populace respected
and welcomed the process. (Comment: Guo made no distinction
between "open nomination, open selection" and "open nomination,
direct selection" (gong tui zhi xuan). End comment.) In
contrast, the party secretaries thus elected are nervous about
the process, he said, because they have never been held
accountable before and realize they can be voted out of office.
In the past, party officials had no need to worry about
citizens' support, but now they need to earn that support and
keep their promises. Guo Dan said he viewed this reform as an
intersection of party democracy and "people's democracy."


9. (C) Another area of reform in response to the implementation
of the "Harmonious Society" policy is the evaluation and
promotion system (kaohe tixi) for party and government
officials. Guo Dan stated that previously evaluations
overwhelmingly emphasized GDP per capita growth. Recent changes
in the system in Sichuan have emphasized achieving the goals of
more efficient energy use and environmental protection outlined
in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (FYP). Indeed, while every
district/county-level government has its own evaluation
standards based on local conditions, Guo pointed out that all
districts have already introduced new standards based on the
goals of the 11th FYP, including social and environmental
factors that had previously been absent or largely ignored. Guo
Dan noted that the 11th FYP calls for a 20 percent reduction in
the amount of energy expended per unit of GDP and that similar
targets would be reflected in Sichuan's evaluation scheme.


10. (C) Sichuan is one of nine pilot provinces for a Green GDP
experiment, and Guo praised Suining and Mianyang prefectures for
having done a good job in utilizing Green GDP. Guo noted that
while Sichuan's official GDP growth in 2004 was 13 percent,
adjusted Green GDP numbers calculated as part of this pilot
showed that Sichuan's "real" growth was only 7 percent.
Environmental goals from an "Ecological Plan" (shengtai jihua)
have also been built into the evaluation system of 10
prefectures in Sichuan. However, Guo Dan did note that per

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capita GDP in Sichuan is still expected to increase by about 10
percent annually.


11. (C) Guo Dan claimed the Supervision Law (Jiandu Fa) is
significant for democracy in China, but that the rollout process
would be slow, extending to 2010. He said the new law would
challenge vested interests and help regulate power
relationships. As an example of this trend, he cited a recent
restriction on government departmental interests that directly
benefited citizens. Train fares generally go up substantially
during Chinese New Year, one of the biggest travel seasons of
the year. This year, the Government listened to significant
public opinion opposed to the increases and limited the power of
the Railway Ministry to raise fares. One significant power that
the Supervision Law grants to People's Congresses is the power
to prevent government departments from enacting regulations to
collect fees from businesses and the public.


12. (C) Guo also discussed the recently prominent topic of
"deliberative democracy" (xieshang minzhu). In Sichuan, the
focus of deliberative democracy is on the local People's
Political Consultative Conferences (PPCC),which are viewed by
the Party as the chief vehicle for the people to express their
ideas to senior leaders. In Guo's opinion, the PPCCs were doing
an adequate job of representing various social interests and
raising cases for the government to deal with. However, he
acknowledged that recent guidance from the central and
provincial government on expanding deliberative democracy had
not been fleshed out procedurally.

Rural Governance and Social Welfare
--------------


13. (C) SASS Deputy Director Du Shouhu, an expert on rural
issues and a former director of the SASS Rural Research
Institute, said there is a strong trend toward centralization in
the countryside. County and city-level governments have taken
stronger control over villages, especially in the supervision of
budgets. There are currently fewer subsidies from the Central
Government and hence, corresponding increases from provincial
governments. Guo Dan added that the goal of Harmonious Society
is to achieve a balance between centralization and
decentralization, but it will be a long, slow process. Guo Dan
agreed the overall trend is centralization, particularly in the
areas of natural resources, environment, auditing, land, and
security issues. He said centralization is necessary at this
stage in China's development, but "once under control," these
areas would become less centralized. Social issues and
grassroots democracy, in contrast, are currently becoming less
centralized, Guo Dan asserted.


14. (C) Du noted another trend was for outstanding college
graduates and people with previous work experience to be sent to
the countryside to take up positions as village heads. (Note:
Village leaders are supposed to be elected. If these "excellent
students" are subsequently "elected," the election process may
have been denuded of its democratic qualities in these villages.
End note.) Du expected that new personnel laws enacted in 2006
mandating regular rotations of officials and an "up or out"
promotion system in an effort to prevent corruption would be
strictly implemented at the local level. However, he added,
given the dearth of talent in remote rural areas, the
enforcement of such laws could pose problems. He expected that
one regulation forbidding officials to serve in their home
regions would be obeyed to the letter in most areas, but that
some exceptions might be made for ethnic minority cadres.


15. (C) When asked about the status of social welfare policies
in rural areas, Du said Sichuan was one of the earliest
provinces to initiate experiments on medical insurance in
certain counties in Dujiangyan and Meishan prefectures (80
counties are participating in the pilot nationwide). In those
pilots, rural residents pay 10 RMB (USD 1.20) per year and the
central government contributes 40 RMB (USD 4.80). Though
successful to a certain extent, Du admitted it was still too
expensive for rural residents in these areas to seek in-patient
treatment. Sichuan is also discussing options for care of the
elderly. Young rural residents are increasingly unwilling to
remain in the countryside to care for ageing parents. At the
same time, elderly individuals are generally reluctant to enter
old persons' homes. Du said there is some support among
government officials for a new contribution system for old age
care similar to the medical insurance contribution system. He
emphasized that financial issues, not management issues, were
key to solving the problem, and argued that fund transfers from
wealthier eastern provinces, which benefited from western
China's natural resources, were only right and proper. Du also
noted that every level of government would play a role in
managing new social security programs, rejecting a suggestion

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that Beijing might want to centralize control.

Civil Society Development
--------------


16. (C) The Harmonious Society concept also has implications
for the development of civil society, particularly organizations
that mediate between the state and society, according to Guo
Hong of the Sociology Research Institute. Guo first began
researching "intermediary organizations" (zhongjie zuzhi) in
2005 and just issued a report in January on industry
associations (hangye xiehui) in Sichuan. In Sichuan, the
transformation of government-administered "mass organizations,"
often referred to as "secondary government" (er zhengfu),into
non-governmental associations is a relatively new phenomenon.
Guo Hong described the process, primarily focused at present on
industry associations, as one beginning with budgetary
independence and then personnel independence. She admitted that
officials from the government offices frequently become heads of
the associations, though they are "freely" elected by the
members (Note: Post would characterize these associations not as
true NGOs, but as government-organized NGOs or GONGOs. End
Note). Prior to 2006, however, the association heads and
secretary generals were all regular civil servants appointed by

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the relevant government departments, a situation which no longer
obtains for those associations who have been transformed into
"tertiary organizations" (disan bumen),i.e., civil society
institutions.


17. (C) Over 30 such associations were transitioned into this
new set-up in 2006, a year in which it was generally very
difficult to establish new organizations, Guo Hong said. These
associations focus on commercial issues and regulating their
particular industries. In response to a question, Guo Hong said
that such associations, at least in Sichuan, do not lobby the
government. She noted that industry associations were
relatively developed in Chengdu and that business associations
representing non-Sichuan companies doing business in Sichuan had
expanded in 2006. Previously, only Wenzhou businessmen had
registered a trade association in Sichuan; now, there were also
active registered associations representing businesses from
Zhejiang as a whole and Fujian. Guo Hong added that she has
been trying to establish an association for migrant workers for
the last few years, but has been unsuccessful in registering a
group.


18. (C) Guo Hong observed that public participation in
governance was only been a slogan at the time of the 16th Party
Congress in 2002, but that, in the last two years, there had
been observable trends towards self-management in Sichuan. She
attributed the growth in public consciousness about public
participation as well as its relative acceptance by local
officials in part to the Party's popularization of the
Scientific Development Concept, which had rendered obsolete old
top-down approaches to "dealing with the masses." Public
interest groups (gongyi zuzhi) were now operating much more
openly and were even in some cases receiving government funding,
such as poverty alleviation funds, to pursue their work.


19. (C) Guo Hong has also been observing the development of
urban governance at the community/resident committee
(shequ/jumin weiyuanhui) level. (Note: Resident committees are
the traditional form of grassroots government in urban areas,
equivalent to villages in rural areas. "Communities" (shequ)
were set up early in this decade as grassroots organizations in
urban areas to focus on the provision of public services and, in
some cases, are identical to resident committees. End note.)
She observed that the resident committees still remain reliant
on higher levels of government for budget and personnel, but
that they are gradually maturing into more autonomous entities
that are able to represent and respond to the needs of their
constituents. For example, some committees and their related
shequ organizations are engaged in innovative efforts to take
care of farmers who have lost their land. Guo Hong noted that
Chengdu will hold the second round of public elections for shequ
officers in 2007 (the first round was in 2004),so this will be
the first changeover in shequ leadership since their
establishment.


20. (C) In 2006, Guo Hong engaged in a study of Chengdu
homeowners associations (yezhu weiyuanhui). She noted that, in
contrast to Beijing, where such associations are often
established to advocate for member's rights (weiquan),the
Chengdu versions focus on providing a social forum and
organizing entertainment activities for residents. She did note
that many homeowners associations in Chengdu, if they are large
enough (i.e., if a single large housing development forms a
single homeowners association),are also constituting themselves
as shequ. Such homeowners associations are more active than

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ones that do not have an organic relationship with a shequ.
Homeowners associations that are also shequ usually have good
relations with their local resident committees, but sometimes
homeowners associations clash with resident committees and even
with higher-level street offices (jiedao banshiqu, equivalent to
a township/town) over resources, such as the control of land.
In general, Guo Hong was encouraged to see an overall increase
in autonomous governance at the grassroots level in Sichuan.

NGOS AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
--------------


21. (C) In spite of a generally difficult atmosphere for the
establishment of NGOs in Sichuan, Guo Hong said most academics
believe Sichuan is an "acceptable environment" for existing NGOs
and that the space for NGOs is gradually expanding. Prior to
2006, Sichuan had the second largest number of registered NGOs
(Shandong had the most),but, following a "rectification" of the
NGO rolls in that year, she estimated that the total number had
fallen. Guo Hong cited as examples the success the NGO Green
River has had in influencing government policy on protection of
wildlife and natural resources, the ability of the Chengdu Urban
Rivers Association (CURA) (a State-Department small-grantee) to
report directly to the Chengdu City Government about watershed
cleanup efforts, and the participation of a bird watching
association in planning for a protected area. Guo Hong said all
these types of organizations that focus on environmental
protection, education and poverty alleviation have good
cooperation with the government and strong connections with the
international community.


22. (C) When asked to comment on the role of religious
organizations, Guo Hong was not so optimistic, saying the
behavior of Christians and Catholics in China was strictly
prescribed within religious boundaries. In contrast, she noted
that Buddhist Merit Associations (gongde hui) were given more
latitude to carry out a range of charitable activities,
including poverty alleviation, as long as these activities were
seen as "internal," i.e., confined to their believers. Guo Hong
also predicted NGOs functioning in other previously sensitive
areas, such as health services and education, would become
increasingly more active. She said demand for migrant education
from private or NGO providers would increase as public schools
continued to be closed in rural areas. HIV/AIDS-related
education and service from NGOs such as Aibai in Chengdu and
Beijing will be even more welcome in the future. A key issue
will be how the government handles NGO registration, with
tax-free status for non-profit groups being the crux. While
this will doubtless be difficult to manage, Guo Hong saw this as
an inevitable trend, particularly with the need to increase
public trust in the delivery of services.

Comment
--------------

23. (C) The scholars were quite open in describing the
abstractness of the Harmonious Society concept, while holding
out hope it would become clearer with time. At the same time,
they acknowledged the ideology's positive aspects of equality,
justice, rule of law, security, and democracy as guideposts for
current experiments and reform in the political and social
realms.
BOUGHNER