TIBETAN PREFECTURE IN SOUTHWEST CHINA -- HIGH SUBSIDIES

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 09 CHENGDU 000175 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND INR E.O. 12958: DECL: 8/7/2033 TAGS: PGOV ECON PHUM CH SUBJECT: TIBETAN PREFECTURE IN SOUTHWEST CHINA -- HIGH SUBSIDIES DON'T APPARENTLY BUY HAPPINESS REF: A. CHENGDU 135 ¶B. CHENGDU 13 ¶C. 07 CHENGDU 220 ¶D. 07 CHENGDU 56 CLASSIFIED BY: James A. Boughner, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General, Chengdu. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (S) Summary: A series of internal government documents recently obtained by post provide an unusually detailed look into the internal workings of the poor and predominantly ethnic Tibetan prefecture of Ganzi in southwest China's Sichuan Province. Massive subsidies are being invested in infrastructure and other development projects to try to raise people out of poverty and so, in theory, ameliorate ethnic conflict. The focus of the documents, however, also illustrates the apparent continued failure by government authorities to recognize that possible material gains by what are perceived as being "ungrateful" Tibetans will not alone overcome grievances felt after years of political and religious repression. End Summary. ¶2. (S) Post is currently in the process of preparing summary translations of internal documents related to the holding of the first session of the Tenth People's Congress of the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP) in April 2008 that were given us by a contact. In this and upcoming reports, we will look at how local authorities review and critique efforts to provide better public services and improve living standards in Ganzi. The documents we obtained include: -- Secrecy Guidelines to be observed during the People's Congress. -- Government Work Report. -- Ganzi TAP Intermediate Level People's Court Work Report. -- Ganzi TAP People's Procuratorate Work Report. -- Ganzi TAP Finance Department Work Report on Execution of the 2007 Budget and Draft 2008 Budget. -- Execution of the Ganzi TAP 2007 Civilian Economy and Society Development Plan and Draft 2008 Plan. -- Ganzi TAP Sichuan Province More Prosperous, Calmer and Healthier People Project Program (2007 - 2015) Draft. Protests and Repression -------------- ¶3. (C) Conflicts between ethnic Tibetans and government and Party leaders in Ganzi began to intensify over a year ago -- well before the outbreak of unrest in Lhasa in March 2008 that quickly spread to Ganzi other areas -- as local authorities strived to implement "patriotic education" throughout the prefecture (ref a). In addition, ongoing land disputes over hydropower development and grasslands, exploitation of lucrative caterpillar fungus, as well as other social and economic factors added to the overall atmosphere of ethnic tension and ill will (ref b). Ganzi's ongoing "patriotic education" campaign, modeled on earlier campaigns in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR),intensified after a crowd at the August 1, 2007 horse race festival in Litang in the west of the prefecture (ref c) called for the return of the Dalai Lama to China. During the campaign, monks have been forced to sign loyalty pledges to the Party and denounce the Dalai Lama. Some comply while others protest or flee their monasteries. Background -------------- ¶4. (U) Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan Province has a population (2007) of 955,000 or just over 1 percent of Sichuan Province's 87 million people. According to the March 2008 Ganzi TAP Statistical Bulletin (see ),the ethnic breakdown of Ganzi is 753,000 Tibetans (87 percent),169,000 Han (17 percent) and 27,000 Yi (2 percent). Eighty-three percent of the population are peasants or live in the countryside. Growth has been concentrated in the secondary (industrial) sector which officially rose 21 percent during 2007, compared with 3.7 percent in the primary (agriculture and mining) and 5.3 percent CHENGDU 00000175 002 OF 009 in the tertiary (service) sector. Ganzi's overall GDP grew by 13.5 percent in 2007 (Note: Sichuan province inflation, led by rising food prices, was about 6 percent in 2007),making 2007 the seventh consecutive year of double digit GDP growth for Ganzi. Fixed investment in Ganzi totaled 9.9 billion RMB (USD 1.5 billion) during 2007, up 25 percent from 2006. ¶5. (U) Over 10 percent of China's Tibetans live in Ganzi Prefecture, situated in the Kham region of traditional ethnographic Tibet that has historically provided many Tibetan merchants and warriors. Ganzi lies between the Tibetan Autonomous Region, home to just under half of the ethnic Tibetans in China, and the other predominantly Tibetan prefecture in Sichuan Province, the Aba Tibetan Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. Aba TQAP (pop: 874,000) has several hundred thousand Tibetans concentrated in the northern half of the prefecture that was less seriously affected by the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake. (Aba 2007 statistical bulletin at ). Development Plans -------------- ¶6. (C) Despite the material gains some ethnic Tibetans in Ganzi have seen from government spending on various projects and subsidies, repression of their religion and their monks, the traditional educators and moral leaders of their society, and insults to their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, infuriates them. Resistance to "patriotic education" has occurred not only in the monasteries but in also in the government and Communist Party, as an October 2007 speech on "patriotic education" by Ganzi Party Secretary Liu Daoping (ref d) made clear. Showing ethnic Tibetans in China the benefits of being Chinese by trying to lift them out of poverty through massive subsidies and infrastructure projects has long been an important strategy in the TAR and to a lesser extent in Sichuan's two majority Tibetan prefectures, Ganzi and Aba. The negative public reaction of many Han Chinese to recent protests often appears to be anger at the "ungratefulness" of Tibetans for the massive subsidies funneled to their areas. Deep Poverty -------------- ¶7. (S) According to the internal report, "Ganzi TAP, Sichuan Province More Prosperous, Calmer and Healthier People Project (2007 - 2010) Draft" presented at the April 2008 Ganzi People's Congress, "Ganzi TAP is a region with among the deepest, most widespread and largest number of poor people in all of China. Among the 782,200 rural population in 2006, 415,500 are poor, or 53.12 percent. Although the total population of Ganzi TAP is just 1.1 percent of Sichuan's population, the prefecture has 16.7 percent of the province's population living in abject poverty" and 3.1 percent living in relative poverty -- three to ten times the provincial average." Another part of the report notes, "State policies and investments are not suitable for the actual situation of Ganzi TAP, so most public service investment still depends upon the very weak resources of local government. ~ Under the present system health organizations depend upon local government for subsidies which these governments are unable to provide." This report will be examined more closely in an upcoming Congen cable. Secrecy Rules at Ganzi Tenth People's Congress -------------- -------------- ¶8. (S) Begin text Congen summary translation of Secrecy Guidelines: Secrecy is maintained at this meeting of the Ganzi Prefecture People's Congress according to the Secrecy Law (baomifa) in order to ensure that the meeting is conducted properly. All documents relating to state secrets, internal materials, and working notes must be kept in the meeting area at all times. They may not be taken with you when you take part in social occasions or go to places of entertainment. Any materials that will be released to the outside must be approved by the secretary general or deputy secretary general of the conference before release. No documents, leaflets, photographs or other materials may be released without getting this approval. The CHENGDU 00000175 003 OF 009 News and Publishing Secrecy Regulations (xinwen chuban baomi guiding) must be strictly adhered to. People attending the meeting may not discuss secret matters by telephone, radio communications, unencrypted telegrams or ordinary mail so that internal matters discussed at the meeting will not be disclosed. If you discover that meeting documents or materials have been lost, immediately inform the secretariat. Deliberate loss or disclosure will be prosecuted according to the Secrecy Law. End Text. ¶9. (S) Begin text of Congen summary translation of TAP Government Work Report: Ganzi Prefecture People's Government Chairman Li Changping: Government Work Report of April 13, 2008 Part One Review of Ganzi TAP 2003 - 2007 Government Subsidies Quadruple During 2003 - 2007 -------------- -------------- Ganzi Prefecture production rose by an average of 13.7 percent annually during 2003 - 2007 to 7.887 billion RMB (USD 1.1 billion). Prefecture government income was 1.084 billion RMB including 665 million RMB for local government. This is an increase of 57.6 percent over 2006 and five times the level of ¶2003. Social fixed investment rose by 24.71 percent during 2007 and is 3.1 times the level of 2003. Deposits at financial institutions rose 17.9 percent to 10.625 billion RMB in 2007, twice the level of 2003. A rapid rise in industrial output boosted the relative size of the second (industry) sector compared with the primary (agriculture and mining) and tertiary (service) sector, the relative sized of the sectors changing from 24.1:27.5:48.4 in 2003 to 25.1:36.4:38.5 in 2007. During the period 2003 - 2007, the hydroelectric and mining sectors increased production by 34 percent annually to 5 times the 2003 level. In 2007, Ganzi welcomed 3.26 million Chinese and foreign tourists and earned 2.3 billion RMB from the tourism. Under the program of integrated harmonious development, spending in support of agriculture rose 10 percent annually to 1.87 billion RMB; on social security by 21 percent annually; on public health by 28 percent annually to 805 million RMB. County level government enjoyed 71 percent of all the fiscal income in the prefecture. Private enterprise income grew 15 percent in 2007 to 2.837 billion RMB. Transportation infrastructure is improving rapidly. Test flights from the new Kangding airport were successful. A highway between Kangding and Ya'an has been accepted as part of the Sichuan province highway plan. A route within Ganzi has been established for the planned Tibet - Sichuan highway. Construction of the Jiulong 500 kilovolt power line was completed. Five hundred kilovolt transformer stations will be built in Kangding and Danba. The urbanization rate in Ganzi Prefecture rose by three percentage points from 2003 to 18.3 percent in 2007. Road and telecommunications infrastructure growth has accelerated. In rural areas, 9000 methane gas pools were built, 6000 solar ovens and 5000 biomass ovens were installed. Electric power reached an additional 16,364 households during 2003 - 2007 and drinking water supply problems for 66,500 livestock were solved. Education -------------- During 2003 - 2007, 460 million RMB were invested to eliminate school fees, improve the educational system and help poor students who can't afford schooling beyond eight years of compulsory education. Dormitories for students who must live at a faraway school were built. By 2007, 432 schools in Ganzi had dormitories and accommodated 75,000 students. Fifteen counties implemented nine years of compulsory education with a coverage rate of 85 percent. Ninety-nine percent of school age children are in school. Ganzi Prefecture now has 140,000 students in elementary, middle and high schools along with 300 children from peasant or herder families who are studying in Ganzi High School CHENGDU 00000175 004 OF 009 classes in Chengdu, Deyang and Mianyang. Children withdrawn from monastery (schools) are being enrolled in public schools for compulsory education. Rural and Urban Incomes -------------- Vocational training is being strengthened to reduce unemployment. Registered urban unemployment is 4.6 percent. During 2003 - 2007, a variety of subsidies and payments are provided including, to compensate farmers for returning cropland to forestland (655 million RMB total over five years); grain subsidy for herders who took livestock off grassland to allow it to recover (56.92 million RMB); and subsidies for people obeying family planning regulations at 134 million RMB. In 2007, urban disposable income in Ganzi Prefecture was 10,178 RMB, an increase of 26.7 percent over 2006 and 58 percent higher than in ¶2003. Average 2007 income for peasants and herders was 1692 RMB, 210 RMB and 14 percent higher than in 2006 and 64 percent higher than in 2003. The number of people covered under insurance plans for the five hazards (wuxian) -- old age, unemployment, workplace injury, giving birth, and medical care -- increased by 12 percent to 204,000. Health and Life Expectancy -------------- Over 2004 - 2007, 290 million RMB was spent on building infrastructure to prevent and control epidemic disease. Sixty five medical units were established at the county level or above, 270 at the township level and 500 at the village level. There are now four medical technicians for every 1000 people and 3.42 sick beds. Maternal and infant mortality declined sharply. Population and family planning work was strengthened. In 2007, the natural rate of increase of the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture population was 6.36 per thousand and is steady at a low level. The average life expectancy in Ganzi TAP is 67.18 years. Since Ganzi TAP implemented the public roads to every rural district policy, the length of prefecture public roads has reached 12,945 kilometers. Roads to reach rural districts include built 234 kilometers of paved roads and 2340 kilometers of roads to reach villages. Ganzi TAP has contributed to work on military recruiting and finding employment for retired military members. Ganzi TAP also strengthen its civilian military forces (minbing) emergency response capacity which along with the military stationed in Ganzi TAP and the PAP make great contributions to economic development and social stability. Ganzi TAP during the past four years has been fully implementing nationalities and religion policies. This includes the "two uniteds" (we fight side-by-side and we prosper together -- liangge gongtong) and the "three no separations" sange bu likai (Congen Note: in a note at the end of the speech text, this slogan is explained as "the Han nationality cannot be separated from the minority people, the minority people cannot be separated from the Han people, and the various minority people cannot be separated one from another"). Religious work concentrates on the four words -- strengthening propaganda work on religious regulations and strengthening management of religious venues, religious activities, and religious personnel and to solve problems in the religious area such as minimum income, repair of religious sites, and work subsidies. Culture -------------- Cultural work: Minorities folk art is developing rapidly in literature, music, dance, photography and painting. Sculptures of the (Tibetan king) Gesar and (traditional Tibetan) Tanka illustrations have been included in the national Olympic Culture project. The construction of New China bookstores, libraries, and cultural centers has accelerated. Television broadcasts reach 84 percent of the population of Ganzi TAP. Monitoring of places of entertainment and establishments providing internet CHENGDU 00000175 005 OF 009 access has been strengthened. Controls on publishing have been strengthened and seizures of illegal publications and audiovisual products have increased. Culture-related business incomes rose by 27 percent to 161 million RMB during 2007. Fostering democracy: Over the past four years, the government has considered 1132 proposals from the Ganzi People's Congress and its Standing Committee. Village autonomy and openness in village affairs has been promoted. The promotion of openness in factory affairs (chanwu gongkai) has helped protect the legal rights of workers. Government Functions -------------- Improvement of government functions: the newly revised "Government Work Regulations" aim at improving democratic decision making, institutionalize the use of expert advice for making important decisions, government legal advisors, and hearings. This is intended to make the sunlight shine on government work, promote openness in government work and openness in office work. Separations are being implemented between government and business, between government and capital, and between government and market intermediary organizations. With reforms in the system for administrative permissions, the number of projects involving administrative permissions fell during 2007 from 915 to 256. Re-evaluations of 104 projects granted awards or considered to have achieved a higher level reached standards resulted in the cancellation of 90 awards or ratings and the retention of 14 projects. The past four years have seen much liberation of thinking and more reform and opening. These have been four years of administration done according to the law and of strengthening democracy in administration. ~ These four years of breakthroughs have taught us that we still have many problems. Old ideas, old ways of thinking and old customs still hinder our development. The barriers to reform deep in our system and ways of doing things have not yet been broken down. Our infrastructure is still backward and there are many bottlenecks that need to be broken. Peasants still have few sources of income and many of them are poor. Part Two: Suggestions for the Work of Ganzi Prefecture -------------- -------------- -------------- The Ganzi TAP must conscientiously implement the spirit of the Seventeenth Congress of the Communist Party of China, of the fourth session of the seventh Sichuan Provincial Party Committee, and of the fifth session of the Nine Ganzi TAP Communist Party Committee. We need to fully bring into practice the scientific view of development, continue to liberate our thinking, uphold reform and opening, in order to build the first ecology-economy prefecture, to implement that the "well off and wealthy people" project, strongly push for the transformation of our mode of economic development, foster ecological agriculture, ecological energy industry, a superior mining industry, eco-tourism, eco-pharmaceuticals, and minority cultural industries. The basic principles are development, the livelihood of the people, ecology, and harmony. Our goal is to boost the economic product of Ganzi TAP by 14 percent annually through 2011 to reach 13.5 billion RMB (USD 2 billion). Local government budgets will climb by 12 percent annually to 1.36 billion RMB. The value of retail consumption will grow by 12.3 percent annually to 3.65 billion RMB. Peasant income will grow by 12.2 percent annually to an average of 2680 RMB and urban income will grow by 7.3 percent annually to 13,500 RMB. Development of Ganzi TAP natural resources aims at reaching 4 million kilowatts of installed hydroelectric power generating capacity by 2011; mineral ore production of over 4 million tons; and over 5.4 million tourist visits. The integration of the city and the countryside aims at settling herders and diversifying their employment opportunities. In order to ensure progress, we need to stress innovation in our reforms, encourage outside investment, stress macro controls, CHENGDU 00000175 006 OF 009 keep prices stable, optimize the system of investment, conserve energy and reduce emissions, and strictly manage land resources. We need to ensure social stability, democracy, and rule by law. We need to oppose national splittism. We need to hold high the banners of social stability, protection of socialist legality, and the basic rights of the great majority of the people. We need to firmly oppose splittism, protect the unity of the country and of the nationalities. ¶I. Key Work for 2008 Our goals for this year, according to the request of the fifth session of the Ninth Ganzi TAP Party Committee, are to increase the Prefecture's economic product by 16 percent, social fixed investment by 30 percent, local finance ordinary budgets by 30 percent, social retail consumption by 14.2 percent. The value of the industrial output of larger companies should increase by over 25 percent. The disposable income of urban residents should increase by over 10 percent. Peasant income should increase by 200 RMB or more. Registered urban unemployment should be held to under 4.5 percent and the natural increase in the population held to 7.5 per thousand or less. Agricultural land should be held at 58,100 hectares and basic farmland at 58,900 hectares. The energy required per 10,000 RMB of production should decline by 4 percent. Consumer prices, safe production indices and pollution emissions should be controlled within the limits set by Sichuan Province. Ecological agriculture: Science and technology can further improve production through better seeds, techniques and education of farmers. Our goal is for use of good seeds and methods to be 80 percent. Demonstration projects will lead the way for improved varieties of wheat and other crops. Big irrigations projects are under way including dams in Qingde and Huding counties. Ecological energy. As part of the "Send Sichuan Power to Other Provinces" project, boost installed hydroelectric capacity to 700,000 kilowatts in 2008 and begin building 3.8 million kilowatts of additional capacity and construct 500 kilovolt power transmission lines. Mineral industry: Revise the section in the Ganzi TAP Eleventh Five Year Program regarding the mineral development as well as the "Ganzi Prefecture Mineral Production and Resources Management Regulations." Accelerate the development of ferrous metal smelting capacity and boost the value of minerals mined, selected, and smelted from 300 to 500 million RMB. Ecotourism: Draft the "Ganzi Kangbei Tourist Area Construction Plan" based on the "Sichuan Shangri-La Ecotourism Area Overall Development Program" and the "Two Hour Circumnavigation Gongga Mountain Tourist Route Development Program". We will strive to increase the number of star level accommodations in this area by at least 50 percent. The ultimate goal is to welcome 3.5 million tourists to this region annually and earn a tourism income of 2.45 billion RMB. Minorities cultural industry: Strive to achieve prosperity for the minorities' cultural industry, do market promotion for the "thousand tanka (Tibetan painting) cultural promotion project", and get the Danba group of old carvings listed as a world heritage site. Promote cultural exchanges with outside culture, exhibitions, cultural entertainment and markets. Ecological pharmaceuticals. Strengthen the central management of caterpillar fungus (dongchong xiaocao),accelerate its transformation into an industry and the development of facilities to grow it in the wild and build centers for cultivating caterpillar fungus. Promote the cultivation of materia medica for both Chinese and Tibetan medicine. Research and develop standard doses for Tibetan traditional pharmaceuticals, establish a database and screen Chinese and Tibetan medicines according to their characteristics. II. Accelerate Infrastructure Development Transportation: Ensure the proper operation of the Kangding Airport, which opened in May 2008. Accelerate the construction CHENGDU 00000175 007 OF 009 of routes G318 and S211 and of the Que'er Mountain tunnel. Begin construction of 500 km of rural district (xiang) level roads and 2500 km of village access roads. For certain road segments use a variety of financing methods including private, joint, cooperative and built-operate-transfer so that roads can be built faster and more funding can be made available for road construction projects. Urban and rural construction: Publicize, implement and enforce the "City and Countryside Planning Law" (Chengxiang guihua fa). Ensure that modern housing retains a local ethnic flavor so that the modern can be organically combined with traditional culture. Study and solve the problem of supply water to cities and towns in the winter. Implement the "Calming Project" (anxin gongcheng). (Congen note: a note at end of speech reads "a new housing reform and construction project intended to solve the housing problems in Ganzi TAP of government and Party cadres and employees."). Strive to achieve a Ganzi TAP urbanization rate of 18.90 percent. Ecological construction: Create an ecological culture, return some cultivated land to forest, reduce grazing to restore the grassland, protect marshland, and wild plants and animals. Complete the creation of 70,000 mu of planted forestland, closing mountain land and promoting the return of the forest in another 460,000 mu, ending grazing and restoring grassland on 6 million mu, exterminating rats and other pests on 4 million mu of land. Promote projects implementing the "Qinghai Tibet Plateau Southeast Green Protection Area Program" and the "Ganzi TAP Desertification Prevention and Alleviation Program" and wetlands protection. Building information infrastructure: Improve the coverage and quality of cell telephone and internet network and telephone service, especially in tourist areas and key industrial and mining areas. Improve the telephone coverage of administrative villages. Improve television broadcast coverage for villages as well as the quality of translations into the Kham dialect of Tibetan. III. Continue Deepening Reform and Opening Strengthen reforms: Liberating our thinking, renovating concepts and reforming markets will means adjustments in resources, industry, products and projects are managed. We need to optimize our economic structure, change our mode of development, and uses energy conservation and reducing emissions are criteria for shutting down or renovating factories. Land use and leases should be handled on a business basis and the management of state assets strengthened. Reform the system for managing road upkeep to solve the problem of "If no one is responsible for road upkeep, we can't keep our roads in good condition." Strive to solve the problem that minority business has difficulty attracting investment capital, strive to attract 7.5 billion RMB of capital. Increase opening and reform and seek to attract foreign investment, especially in the areas of transforming rural agriculture into a business (nongye chanyehua),ecotourism, eco-pharmaceuticals, and minority culture. Seek more international exchanges and actively seek more government-to-government international assistance projects. Strengthen economic and technical cooperation with adjacent developed areas. Do more propaganda/publicity work to build the image of Ganzi TAP as an open place. IV. Support Social Development Making education a priority: Implement the policy of the Party and Government on exempting poor students from fees for books and other miscellaneous items and services and ensure funding for rural schools, and promote the development of compulsory education. Strengthen the educational system and promote bilingual education. Regulate private schools and standardize the management of schools with dormitories. Increase the proportion of minor students who have been withdrawn from the monasteries who are enrolled in school. The people's government should run schools that the people are satisfied with. Health: Build the capacity of the public health system to handle emergencies and to prevent the outbreak of serious epidemic diseases. Promote the development of the public health CHENGDU 00000175 008 OF 009 system and especially of county and Prefectural level hospitals. Strive to achieve universal coverage of new village cooperative health insurance system. Promote therapeutic help to groups with special health problems. Promote the "Year of Child and Maternal Health" and bring into full play the role of the Red Cross. Culture: Promote the publishing industry, museums and village book rooms. Expand employment: Implement the "Labor Contract Law" and the "Employment Promotion Law." Pay special attention to households that have no one employed and to landless peasants. Help recent middle and high school graduates and laid off workers to become self-employed. The People's Government must constantly strive to protect the legal rights of workers. Poverty alleviation: Implement poverty alleviation projects in 68 villages, arrange for 4200 people in 755 households to move to other areas to improve their incomes, improve village roads, make drinking water safer, and improve internet, roads and bridges. Strive to help 34,000 people escape abject poverty and achieve a decent standard of living (wenbao). Improve social security: Improve the labor insurance system, the coverage of social insurance. Make a success of the Jiulong County farmer and herder retirement insurance experiment. Make a success of the national level experimental sites for urban and rural health insurance. Ensure that all the 185,500 people living in abject poverty in Ganzi Prefecture are covered by the village guaranteed minimum income. Ensure that there people who may be moving between city and countryside do get all the guaranteed income coming to them despite their movements. Gradually increase the level of village guarantees and pensions and the special problems of the elderly, handicapped, people taking care of children and disaster victims. Strengthen market oversight: Improve the Prefectural, county and rural district distribution networks to end the problems peasants and herders have in buying and selling. Strengthen control of prices, food products, pharmaceuticals, and product management and eliminate counterfeiting so as to protect consumer safety. Implement grain supports and pig livestock production to avoid abnormal price swings in important food products. Population and other work: Promote the "Five Big Projects" in family planning (Congen note: in a note at the end of the speech handout, this is explained as "the villager autonomy project; the advanced county family planning services project; the family planning incentives oriented project; fertility culture development project; and the informatization development management project."). Implement the child and maternal development charter in order to protect the legitimate rights of women and children. ¶V. Striving to Build a Harmonious Ganzi Strengthen the control of society and the effectiveness of government at handling civil disputes. Strengthen control of migrants, civil organizations, foreign NGOs, and of special trades (including hotels, printers, pawnshops). Improve the handling of petitioners, of administrative remedies to correct wrongs, and make it easier for people to present complaints. Investigate disputes and resolve them. Solve problems that people are complaining about include land takings, tearing down of housing, resettlement, reforms, and petitions. Solve threats to stability at the grassroots when they are just budding so as to prevent mass incidents. Consolidate the results of patriotic education, strengthen national security work, and combat enemy forces and elements as they try to infiltrate and cause trouble. Strengthen Efforts to Ensure Safe Production. Publicize and implement the "The Emergency Response Law" (tufa shijian yingdui fa),improve basic infrastructure, strengthen inspection to avoid accidents. Strictly enforce safety codes on new construction and on the renovation and expansion of existing buildings. Stress national defense: Support the development of the national CHENGDU 00000175 009 OF 009 defense, and the armed forces, reserves and civil forces (minbing). Do nationalities and religious work well: Take the two uniteds (united we fight, united we prosper). We need to develop equal and cooperative relationships and harmonious socialist relationships with and among the national minorities. We must be very explicit in our opposition to national splittism. We must thoroughly implement the Communist Party's nationalities and religion general guidelines and measures to ensure that the government manages religious affairs according to law. VI. Improve Government Work People in government work must be held accountable for their actions. Honesty and frugality are important. We must that there is adequate oversight over and constraints on the exercise of power and root out corruption in government. We need to constantly look for how to improve the organization of government and constantly learn how to make it work better. We need to increase public participation in decision-making, solicit expert advice, legal advice, and increase openness in government. End text of summary translation. BOUGHNER