History of the People's Republic of China (2002-present)
Encyclopedia
The People's Republic of China
became more influential economically in the 1990s and 2000s and was beginning to be widely recognized as an emerging superpower. In 2010, China became the world's second largest economy. At the same time, numerous social problems
emerged and intensified. As Paramount leader
Jiang Zemin
, NPCSC Chairman Li Peng
and PRC Premier Zhu Rongji
, gradually retired from their position of power, "fourth-generation
" leaders, led by CPC General Secretary Hu Jintao
and Premier Wen Jiabao
, faced with increasing social unrest, attempted to steer the country towards a new direction. From the path of focusing solely on economic development, Hu and Wen placed focus on creating an overall balance under the idea of the Scientific Development Concept
to create a harmonious society
. In this process, there was an unprecedented shift in stance towards favouring rural development and farmers, as well as other generally populist policies. The Hu-Wen government, on the same token, attempted to restrict some personal freedoms, especially those associated with political content on the Internet
.
China's increased prominence on the global stage has also brought with it general skepticism and intense scrutiny, especially in the lead up to the 2008 Summer Olympics
and after the March 2008 protests in Tibet
. The government continues to be criticized on human rights abuses and the various product quality scandals that have increasingly damaged the country's integrity and continues to raise suspicions about the country's safety standards. The majority of China's population, however, point to the immense progress the country has made and generally discredit criticisms of China as being embedded in cultural and historical misunderstandings and rooted in paranoia of China's potential dominance on the world stage. These ideological clashes, fused with rhetoric from Beijing, has led to an intense wave of nationalism (or patriotism) surfacing in Chinese populations around the world.
stepped down from the powerful Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China
to make way for a younger "fourth generation" of leadership led by Tsinghua engineering graduate Hu Jintao
. Speculation remained, however, that Jiang would continue to wield significant influence. At the time, Jiang stacked newly expanded Politburo Standing Committee, China's foremost power organ, with three of his hardline allies: former Shanghai party chief Huang Ju
, former Beijing party chief Jia Qinglin
, and Li Changchun
to control propaganda. In addition, the new Vice-President, Zeng Qinghong
, was also seen as a staunch Jiang ally, as he was part of Jiang's Shanghai clique
.
Also elevated during the Congress was Wen Jiabao
, then Premier Zhu Rongji
's right-hand man. Wen would become Premier in March 2003, and along with Hu, they were termed the Hu-Wen Administration
. Both Hu and Wen's careers are remarkable in that they survived through the 1989 political crisis, which was attributed to their moderate views and careful attention not to offend or alienate older supporters. Hu Jintao is the first party chief to have joined the Communist Party after the Revolution over 50 years ago. In his 50s, Hu was the youngest member by far of the then seven-member Standing Committee. Wen Jiabao, a geology engineer who spent most of career in China's hinterlands, had never lost his political ground despite being a former ally to disgraced leader Zhao Ziyang
.
. Because Jiang continued to wield influence, the direction of the Hu-Wen administration did not deviate from that of the Jiang-era for a few years after taking over power. Jiang, however, faced both popular pressure and significant inner party and military opposition, and stepped down as the Central Military Commission
Chairman in September 2004. Although superficially, Hu and Wen continued to support Jiang era policies and hail his Three Represents
theory, gradual changes were put in place to revert some of the worst excesses of the Jiang era. The changes had a much more egalitarian focus, concentrated on sectors of the Chinese population which have been left behind by the economic reform and closing the great wealth gap. Hu and Wen have both taken a number of high profile trips to the poorer areas of China with the stated goal of understanding these areas better.
The degree of difference between the Hu and Jiang administrations is subject to debate. Within the top leadership of the PRC, there still a general consensus that Chinese economic reform
should continue. But because of the clear slant towards more capitalist elements under a one-party system, it has been contested that the government has an unclear ideological direction. The seriousness of China's internal problems
is often masked by its high economic growth indicators and rapidly increasing foreign investment interest. Both Hu and Wen have given keynote addresses indicating the government's determination to deal with problems in a more logical, scientific way.
to concentrate on more populist issues instead of constantly following the daily affairs of each of China's top leaders.
The introduction of the Internet
and SMS
has increased the difficulty of attaining complete control, although general internet censorship involving sites such as Google
and Wikipedia
persist. Moreover, the news media from Hong Kong, protected by Basic Law
, has become increasingly involved in news reporting in China, and have become increasingly accessible to a Mainland public hungry for "real news".
There are cases in which lawyers were harassed, journalists beaten, and civilians imprisoned in weiquan movement. What makes weiquan movement more difficult is that in China there exists a system called "Re-education through labor" (Pinyin
: láodòng jiàoyăng or láojiào in short) (Chinese characters: 劳动教养 or 劳教 in short). It is a system in which a person can be detained for up to 4 years without being convicted by a court. This system is also used to deal with some weiquan movement activists.
In spite of the difficulties, the weiquan movement still made some progress, such as the abolition of "custody and repatriation
" in 2003. However, the pace of the progress is still very slow.
for the Chief Executive and the legislature. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in a series of July 1 marches
.
. The strategy of the PRC government was to wait out the term of pro-Taiwan independence
President
Chen Shui-bian
in hopes that the pro-Chinese reunification
ticket of Lien Chan
and James Soong
would win the elections of 2004
. Kuomintang
Chairman Lien Chan
made an unprecedented visit to Beijing in 2005, shaking hands with Communist Party leader Hu Jintao, marking the first such Kuomintang-Communist meeting since the end of the Chinese Civil War
. Chen Shui-bian and his pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party
was reelected in 2004, impeding possible reunification progress. Though Chen will unlikely pledge to the One-China policy
to begin negotiations, he has pledged the Four Noes and One Without
, which quells any armed conflict in the near future. At the same time, Chen has gone step by step with actions provoking Beijing, trying to gradually create a separate Taiwan identity. In 2008, tourism slightly opened between Taiwan and the mainland.
have been in contact since 1978, at the behest of the reformist Deng Xiaoping
, and have held several secret or formal talks since 1982. The main points of contention are the Dalai Lama's want for a Greater Tibet, or to unite the Tibet Autonomous Region
with Chinese territory that has not been a part of political Tibet in modern times, and the Dalai Lama's insistence that Tibet should be run "like a western-style democracy
" instead of by the Communist Party of China. In response to the Chinese government's rejection of these demands, the Dalai Lama has traveled all over the world persuading foreign governments to demand China accept these terms. As a result of this pressure and the apparent failure of liberal reforms in Tibet to quell separatist
sentiment, hardliners within the Chinese government gained in power. Tibetan nationalists felt, then, that they must escalate with violent opposition in Tibet "to prevent China from doing business as usual". After a period of relatively peaceful time since the demonstrations in 1989, the 2008 Tibetan unrest
indeed provoked an international reaction against China
.
. To stop panic and avoid possible economic damage, and to preserve face and public confidence, local officials applied tight media control. The central Government was knowingly ignorant of the media control. The international community was misinformed about the existence of the virus.
Policy changes became apparent in early April 2003. After intense international pressure, PRC officials allowed international officials to investigate the situation. In late April, major revelations came to light as the PRC government admitted to underreporting the number of cases due to the problems inherent in the health care system. A number of PRC officials were fired from their posts, including the health minister Zhang Wenkang
and the mayor of Beijing Meng Xuenong (a Jiang and Hu supporter, respectively), and systems were set up to improve reporting and control in the SARS crisis. The PRC government delivered an official apology. General Secretary Hu Jintao
promised a total disclosure of SARS data and permitted WHO
experts to examine the SARS cases. Finally, in July 2003, the WHO declared SARS contained, but warned the disease could emerge again during the next winter. By then the disease had already made its way around the world.
The crisis marked a period of national mobilization, where schedules around the country shifted to accommodate for the control of the virus. Many educational institutions closed or had highly regulated schedules during the period between April and November 2003, and businesses were open on a very irregular basis. Restaurants, usually the centre of social life in China, were nearing bankruptcy. Quarantine
measures were taken across the country, with designated hospitals in major cities treating the illness. The extreme measures left paranoid citizens with common illnesses to treat themselves at home to avoid contracting the virus at a hospital. Many overcrowded schools divided their classes into morning and afternoon groups to avoid contact due to the close proximity of desks. Workplaces took to handing out mandatory latex gloves and face masks, whose production and sales rose dramatically during this period.
The openness in the latter stage of the SARS crisis showed an unprecedented shift in the Chinese government's policies. In the past, rarely had officials stepped down purely because of administrative mistakes. There was never complete disclosure of classified data and no project in China had been under such international inspection. This change in policy has been largely credited to General secretary, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao
. At the heart of the crisis, Hu made a high-profile trip to Guangdong and Wen ate lunch with students at Beijing University.
outbreak. While four other Southeastern Asian countries have reported cases of Avian Flu before China, the Chinese government began taking precautions not long after the SARS outbreak in 2003. Beijing has maintained a strict and transparent policy to gain back a reputation damaged heavily during the SARS outbreak. In October 2005, Premier Wen Jiabao
issued a nationwide directive to heavily prosecute the officials who attempted to hide Avian Flu cases. Since then, a total of 13 cases of Avian Flu in humans have been reported on the Mainland. Since then China has not faced a significant public health crisis.
society. Rural regions surrounding the Yangtze River Delta
have become some of the most prosperous places in China. According to official estimates, by 2006 China's poverty rate has fallen below 10%, while literacy rates exceeded 95%, with few lacking basic amenities such as food, shelter, and health care. In addition, life expectancy is now over 72 years of age, well above the average of developing countries.
Increased standards of living saw the expansion of the middle class
, but also meant that the upper strata of society controlled more and more wealth. According to numerous reports from within China and internationally, China now ranks amongst the countries in the world with the largest wealth gap in the world. The creation of a new business elite and their entrance into the party ranks meant that the line between business and politics has been blurred, giving way to more corruption. Numerous regional leaders were fired from their posts and sent to jail on charges of corruption. Most notably, Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu
was dismissed in September 2006 due to a scandal involving moving money from the city's pension fund and opposing macroeconomic control measures issued by the central government.
Regional imbalance, notably the wealth disparity between the hinterlands and the rich coastal regions, have also become a concern for China's rulers. To lessen the effects of the imbalance the government launched the Develop the Northwest and Revitalize the Northeast campaigns, while enacting tight macroeconomic controls in a process of equalization.
China's urban and rural primary health care network has persisted in prophylactic health work. China had basically eliminated snail fever by the end of the 1950s; filarial infection by 1994; and poliomyelitis
by 1995. It plans to wipe out leprosy
, and iodine deficiency
in the upcoming years. Despite the huge increases in life spans, China's population growth has been stabilizing due to lowering birth rates since enacting the one or two-child policies in the late 1970s. Population growth exploded under Mao
's rule, failing to enact population controls, due to stability, improving nutritional intakes, and increasing life expectancy
(so-called "barefoot doctors" used to establish clinics even in the remotest regions of the countryside, bringing free access to vaccination
, preventative medicines, birth control
and promoting better standards of sanitation
). Thus, China has largely resolved the problems of over-population and malnutrition. As a result, China's prospects for maintaining stability are relatively good, enabling one to project that continued growth is likely.
) in the country, it is reasonable to believe that one-party rule and the current political system is, at least in part, exacerbating the problem.
Opinion polls continually show that corruption (in all sectors of society) is the main complaint of the people. Currently, hospitals, schools, police, and social and legal institutions are constantly affected by bribery
, cronyism
, and nepotism
. However, the Communist Party of China still asserts a monopoly on exposing corrupt officials and businessmen, and critics accuse the party of selective punishment. Analysts say the authorities are reluctant to pursue senior figures and their allies and punishment comes in the form of political purges rather than genuine law enforcement. Nonetheless, the government has taken some measures to address the situation, strengthening the legal system and trying to make the civil service more professional.
, China has made advances in foreign affairs without much restriction from the U.S. in the 21st century.
, Hu's government was eager to demonstrate China's position of relative influence. China was the mediating nation in the Six-party talks
, in an attempt to calm threats from North Korea
's nuclear program. Being the sole remaining powerful ally of North Korea, China continued to supply the rogue state with food and oil, as well as financial aid. North Korea's nuclear test in October 2006 came as a major embarrassment to the Chinese government's policies, and marked the beginning to an eventual split between China and Kim Jong-il
's regime, who is unwilling to pursue a road of economic reform and opening up. In October 2006, there was evidence to suggest that China had cut off certain supplies, including food and oil, to North Korea. Kim Jong-il has shown a less cordial attitude towards China, but has no option but to comply should China continue trade sanctions.
Western analysts note that the SCO may serve as a balance against US and NATO advancement in the region. Some have even called it a new Warsaw Pact
. SCO leaders, however, insist that the organization is not an alliance directed against any other states.
Having become economically stronger, China is emulating Taiwan's "money diplomacy", and persuading those countries to cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan and to sway to China's side.
Promising financial help, buying over high government officials, and even getting involved in election campaigns in those countries have become part of their "money diplomacy". Such policies also brought negative influences to those countries such as corruption and sometimes can even cause the political instability. One example is the riot in 2006 following the general election in the Solomon Islands
. As a consequence of the riot, the then-newly elected prime minister, Snyder Rini
, resigned after having served for a very short term.
The recent 2008 elections of Taiwan, however, saw the reinstatement of the KMT party headed and an inclination to better relations between the straits.
. Patriotism
is usually reinforced in education
. This is reflected by the protests against the visit to Yasukuni Shrine
by the then-Japanese PM, Junichiro Koizumi
. Such war shrine visits are also unpopular in Korea
as well as other Southeast Asian countries that were invaded during World War II
. And with sporting events such as the 2008 olympics, the CCP was able to use the event to further increase patriotism in the China. Films that were sponsored by the government such as The Founding of a Republic
released in 2009, were used to increase the CCP legitamacy in China.
Another potential crisis is the advent of AIDS
, which by UN estimates, could reach 10 million cases in 2010. In the Henan
province, where perhaps hundreds of thousands of people have been infected with HIV
by selling their blood, the government is only beginning to pay attention to the problem. Public awareness and widespread acknowledgement has yet to come.
While there have been major economic reforms, the government has been slow on political reform, citing that social stability is vital for a developing economy. Few analysts believe the PRC will democratize quickly, but many see democratization as an inevitable end of the economic reforms. Many in mainland China see one-party rule as effective and any talk of political reform is meant to change the way the party governs, rather than remove it from power. In recent years, local elections with more candidates than positions available have become regular, yet talking about major changes at higher levels remains taboo.
and Wen Jiabao
to retire. The corresponding party posts, however, are often not governed by strict rules. The mandatory retirement age is 68. As a result, Hu Jintao faces a significant challenge in choosing a successor because he does not have as much power or influence as former leaders Mao, Deng, or even Jiang. China's history knows little of smooth power transitions when there is no designated successor. Therefore it may prove difficult to keep a steadfast policy focus while the central leadership is caught up by a leadership succession crisis.
in China, along with the increasing wealth gap, require political action to stabilize the country. In addition, provincial-level authorities are separating themselves in policy development and implementation from guidelines laid out by the central government. Currently China's leaders have focused on economic means of resolving these problems. Whether they will attempt political reforms may decide how successfully China's internal problems can be resolved.
The Olympics
took place in Beijing
in August 2008. Expo 2010
is taking place in Shanghai. To investors and firms, mainland China represents a vast market that has yet to be fully tapped. This point is best illustrated by the rapid growth of cell phone and Internet users
in mainland China. Educationally, the PRC is forging ahead as partnerships and exchanges with foreign universities have helped create new research opportunities for its students. Human rights issues
remain a concern among members of the world community and Chinese activists. Many countries hope for China to effectively deal with the challenges within the country, in order to ensure the prosperity of China. Furthermore, many countries have significant trade relations with China.
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
became more influential economically in the 1990s and 2000s and was beginning to be widely recognized as an emerging superpower. In 2010, China became the world's second largest economy. At the same time, numerous social problems
Social issues in the People's Republic of China
Social issues in the People's Republic of China in the 21st century are varied and wide-ranging, and are a combined result of the Chinese economic reforms set in place in the late 1970s, China's political and cultural history, and an immense population...
emerged and intensified. As Paramount leader
Paramount leader
Paramount leader literally "the highest leader of the party and the state ", in modern Chinese political science, unofficially refers to the political leader of the People's Republic of China....
Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin is a former Chinese politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2005...
, NPCSC Chairman Li Peng
Li Peng
Li Peng served as the fourth Premier of the People's Republic of China, between 1987 and 1998, and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, from 1998 to 2003. For much of the 1990s Li was ranked second in the Communist Party of China ...
and PRC Premier Zhu Rongji
Zhu Rongji
Zhū Róngjī is a prominent Chinese politician who served as the Mayor and Party chief in Shanghai between 1987 and 1991, before serving as Vice-Premier and then the fifth Premier of the People's Republic of China from March 1998 to March 2003.A tough administrator, his time in office saw the...
, gradually retired from their position of power, "fourth-generation
Generations of Chinese leadership
Because both the Communist Party of China and the People's Liberation Army promote according to seniority, it is possible to discern distinct generations of Chinese leadership...
" leaders, led by CPC General Secretary Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
and Premier Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao is the sixth and current Premier and Party secretary of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, serving as China's head of government and leading its cabinet. In his capacity as Premier, Wen is regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy...
, faced with increasing social unrest, attempted to steer the country towards a new direction. From the path of focusing solely on economic development, Hu and Wen placed focus on creating an overall balance under the idea of the Scientific Development Concept
Scientific Development Concept
The scientific development concept, sometimes translated as the scientific development perspective, is the current official guiding socio-economic ideology of the Communist Party of China incorporating sustainable development, social welfare, a humanistic society, increased democracy, and,...
to create a harmonious society
Harmonious society
The construction of a Harmonious Society is a socio-economic vision that is said to be the ultimate end result of Chinese leader Hu Jintao's signature ideology of the Scientific Development Concept. It serves as the ultimate goal for the ruling Communist Party of China along with Xiaokang society,...
. In this process, there was an unprecedented shift in stance towards favouring rural development and farmers, as well as other generally populist policies. The Hu-Wen government, on the same token, attempted to restrict some personal freedoms, especially those associated with political content on the Internet
Internet in the People's Republic of China
The first connection of the mainland of the People's Republic of China with the Internet was established on between ICA Beijing and Karlsruhe University in Germany, under the leadership of Prof. Werner Zorn and Prof. Wang Yunfeng. Since then the Internet in China has grown to host the largest base...
.
China's increased prominence on the global stage has also brought with it general skepticism and intense scrutiny, especially in the lead up to the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
and after the March 2008 protests in Tibet
2008 Tibetan unrest
The 2008 Tibetan unrest, also known from its Chinese name as the 3•14 Riots, was a series of riots, protests, and demonstrations that started in Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa and spread to other Tibetan areas and a number of monasteries including outside the Tibet Autonomous Region...
. The government continues to be criticized on human rights abuses and the various product quality scandals that have increasingly damaged the country's integrity and continues to raise suspicions about the country's safety standards. The majority of China's population, however, point to the immense progress the country has made and generally discredit criticisms of China as being embedded in cultural and historical misunderstandings and rooted in paranoia of China's potential dominance on the world stage. These ideological clashes, fused with rhetoric from Beijing, has led to an intense wave of nationalism (or patriotism) surfacing in Chinese populations around the world.
Power transition
In November 2002, at the 16th Communist Party of China National Congress, then-General secretary Jiang ZeminJiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin is a former Chinese politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2005...
stepped down from the powerful Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China
Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China
The Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Communist Party of China, whose membership varies between 5 and 9 people. The inner workings of the PSC are not well known, although it is believed that decisions of the PSC are...
to make way for a younger "fourth generation" of leadership led by Tsinghua engineering graduate Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
. Speculation remained, however, that Jiang would continue to wield significant influence. At the time, Jiang stacked newly expanded Politburo Standing Committee, China's foremost power organ, with three of his hardline allies: former Shanghai party chief Huang Ju
Huang Ju
Huang Ju was the Executive Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China. He joined the Communist Party of China in March 1966. He was ranked 6th out of 9, and was one of the least popular and most partisan members of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Party...
, former Beijing party chief Jia Qinglin
Jia Qinglin
Jia Qinglin is a senior leader of the People's Republic of China. He is the fourth ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Chairman and Party secretary of the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference. Jia's functions as...
, and Li Changchun
Li Changchun
Li Changchun is the Propaganda chief of the Communist Party of China. He is the 5th ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, China's de facto top power organ, and has been a member since 2002...
to control propaganda. In addition, the new Vice-President, Zeng Qinghong
Zeng Qinghong
Zeng Qinghong was the Vice-President of the People's Republic of China from 2003 to 2008. He became a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee during the 2002 16th Party Congress. Although he was formally ranked fifth in the nine PSC...
, was also seen as a staunch Jiang ally, as he was part of Jiang's Shanghai clique
Shanghai clique
The Shanghai clique or Shanghai faction is the name given to an informal group of officials in the Communist Party of China, especially those who serve in the central government of the People's Republic of China or the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, who rose to prominence in...
.
Also elevated during the Congress was Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao is the sixth and current Premier and Party secretary of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, serving as China's head of government and leading its cabinet. In his capacity as Premier, Wen is regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy...
, then Premier Zhu Rongji
Zhu Rongji
Zhū Róngjī is a prominent Chinese politician who served as the Mayor and Party chief in Shanghai between 1987 and 1991, before serving as Vice-Premier and then the fifth Premier of the People's Republic of China from March 1998 to March 2003.A tough administrator, his time in office saw the...
's right-hand man. Wen would become Premier in March 2003, and along with Hu, they were termed the Hu-Wen Administration
Hu-Wen Administration
The Hu-Wen Administration , or Hu-Wen New Administration is the name given to the Chinese leadership that succeeded Jiang Zemin, Li Peng and Zhu Rongji, whose official start date was 2003...
. Both Hu and Wen's careers are remarkable in that they survived through the 1989 political crisis, which was attributed to their moderate views and careful attention not to offend or alienate older supporters. Hu Jintao is the first party chief to have joined the Communist Party after the Revolution over 50 years ago. In his 50s, Hu was the youngest member by far of the then seven-member Standing Committee. Wen Jiabao, a geology engineer who spent most of career in China's hinterlands, had never lost his political ground despite being a former ally to disgraced leader Zhao Ziyang
Zhao Ziyang
Zhao Ziyang was a high-ranking politician in the People's Republic of China . He was the third Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1987 to 1989....
.
Policy transition
Due to the large number of social, political, and economic imbalances left over from the Jiang era, Hu and Wen inherited a government nearly run-down from severe corruption and the immense rise in materialismMaterialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
. Because Jiang continued to wield influence, the direction of the Hu-Wen administration did not deviate from that of the Jiang-era for a few years after taking over power. Jiang, however, faced both popular pressure and significant inner party and military opposition, and stepped down as the Central Military Commission
Central Military Commission
A Central Military Commission or National Defense Commission is an organisation typical of Communist one-party states, responsible for supervising the nation's armed forces....
Chairman in September 2004. Although superficially, Hu and Wen continued to support Jiang era policies and hail his Three Represents
Three Represents
The Three Represents is a socio-political ideology credited to General Secretary Jiang Zemin which became a guiding ideology of the Communist Party of China at its Sixteenth Party Congress in 2002....
theory, gradual changes were put in place to revert some of the worst excesses of the Jiang era. The changes had a much more egalitarian focus, concentrated on sectors of the Chinese population which have been left behind by the economic reform and closing the great wealth gap. Hu and Wen have both taken a number of high profile trips to the poorer areas of China with the stated goal of understanding these areas better.
The degree of difference between the Hu and Jiang administrations is subject to debate. Within the top leadership of the PRC, there still a general consensus that Chinese economic reform
Chinese economic reform
The Chinese economic reform refers to the program of economic reforms called "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" in the People's Republic of China that were started in December 1978 by reformists within the Communist Party of China led by Deng Xiaoping.China had one of the world's largest...
should continue. But because of the clear slant towards more capitalist elements under a one-party system, it has been contested that the government has an unclear ideological direction. The seriousness of China's internal problems
Social issues in the People's Republic of China
Social issues in the People's Republic of China in the 21st century are varied and wide-ranging, and are a combined result of the Chinese economic reforms set in place in the late 1970s, China's political and cultural history, and an immense population...
is often masked by its high economic growth indicators and rapidly increasing foreign investment interest. Both Hu and Wen have given keynote addresses indicating the government's determination to deal with problems in a more logical, scientific way.
Media control
Chinese leaders understand that news media could be a very effective means to fight against corruption. Media controls were initially reduced, as market forces have encouraged tabloid reporting. Yet, the government occasionally fires reporters or shuts down newspapers that stray outside the party-line. The media reforms of Hu Jintao have been considered conservative by Western watchdogs. At the same time, Hu issued a directive for official party newspapers and media outlets such as Xinwen LianboXinwen Lianbo
Xinwen Lianbo is a daily news programme produced by China Central Television . It is shown simultaneously by most terrestrial television channels in mainland China, making it one of the world's most watched television programmes...
to concentrate on more populist issues instead of constantly following the daily affairs of each of China's top leaders.
The introduction of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and SMS
Short message service
Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
has increased the difficulty of attaining complete control, although general internet censorship involving sites such as Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
and Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
persist. Moreover, the news media from Hong Kong, protected by Basic Law
Hong Kong Basic Law
The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, or simply Hong Kong Basic Law, serves as the constitutional document of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China...
, has become increasingly involved in news reporting in China, and have become increasingly accessible to a Mainland public hungry for "real news".
Protection of individual rights
The term "Weiquan movement" first appeared in 1990s. The word wéiquán (Chinese characters: 維權) literally means "rights protection". As it implies, weiquan movement is not necessarily meant to protect specifically the political rights of the civilians. In fact, it was rather like a movement of consumers' rights protection at its early stage. It became more developed after 2003. The citizens began to protect their violated rights by means of organizing demonstrations, seeking help through the legal system and media reports, writing open or appeal letters, etc. However, because the legal system is not independent and mature, and the fact that the central government is sometimes suspicious and local governments even hostile toward it, weiquan movement has been encountering difficulties in the course of its development.There are cases in which lawyers were harassed, journalists beaten, and civilians imprisoned in weiquan movement. What makes weiquan movement more difficult is that in China there exists a system called "Re-education through labor" (Pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: láodòng jiàoyăng or láojiào in short) (Chinese characters: 劳动教养 or 劳教 in short). It is a system in which a person can be detained for up to 4 years without being convicted by a court. This system is also used to deal with some weiquan movement activists.
In spite of the difficulties, the weiquan movement still made some progress, such as the abolition of "custody and repatriation
Custody and repatriation
Custody and repatriation was an administrative procedure, established in 1982 and ended in 2003, by which the police in the People's Republic of China could detain people if they did not have a residence permit or temporary living permit , and return them to the place where they could legally...
" in 2003. However, the pace of the progress is still very slow.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong's sovereignty was transferred to the People's Republic of China in 1997. Since then, the economy of the former British colony has progressed smoothly. There was on-going debate about the amount of democracy under the new system. Notably, the central government ran into trouble with Hong Kong legal groups and citizens surrounding the territory's pseudo-constitution, the Basic Law of Hong Kong, particularly Article 23, and democratic reform. Although the region enjoys a high degree of autonomy in all areas except for defence and foreign affairs, the Central Government in Beijing desired to keep appointment powers for the Hong Kong Chief Executive as well as part of the Hong Kong legislature. These continued powers led to unrest with certain segments of the Hong Kong population, who demanded direct electionsUniversal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
for the Chief Executive and the legislature. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in a series of July 1 marches
Hong Kong July 1 marches
The Hong Kong 1 July march is an annual protest rally originally led by the Civil Human Rights Front since the 1997 handover on the HKSAR establishment day. However, it was not until 2003 that the march drew large public attention by opposing the legislation of Basic Law Article 23...
.
Taiwan
With Hong Kong and Macau reunited with the mainland the main outstanding issue is TaiwanTaiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
. The strategy of the PRC government was to wait out the term of pro-Taiwan independence
Taiwan independence
Taiwan independence is a political movement whose goals are primarily to formally establish the Republic of Taiwan by renaming or replacing the Republic of China , form a Taiwanese national identity, reject unification and One country, two systems with the People's Republic of China and a Chinese...
President
President of the Republic of China
The President of the Republic of China is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China . The Republic of China was founded on January 1, 1912, to govern all of China...
Chen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian
Chen Shui-bian is a former Taiwanese politician who was the 10th and 11th-term President of the Republic of China from 2000 to 2008. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally been supportive of Taiwan independence, ended more than fifty years of Kuomintang rule in Taiwan...
in hopes that the pro-Chinese reunification
Chinese reunification
Chinese reunification refers to the bringing together of all of the territories controlled by the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China under a single political entity...
ticket of Lien Chan
Lien Chan
Lien Chan is a politician in Taiwan. He was Premier of the Republic of China from 1993 to 1997, Vice President of the Republic of China from 1996 to 2000, and was the Chairman of the Kuomintang from 2000 to 2005...
and James Soong
James Soong
James Soong Chu-yu , is a politician in the Republic of China on Taiwan. He founded and chairs the People First Party, a smaller and more conservative party in the Kuomintang -led Pan-Blue Coalition....
would win the elections of 2004
ROC presidential election, 2004
The Election for the 11th-term President and Vice-President of the Republic of China , the third direct presidential election in Taiwan's history and the 11th presidential election overall under the 1947 Chinese Constitution, was held on March 20, 2004...
. Kuomintang
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
Chairman Lien Chan
Lien Chan
Lien Chan is a politician in Taiwan. He was Premier of the Republic of China from 1993 to 1997, Vice President of the Republic of China from 1996 to 2000, and was the Chairman of the Kuomintang from 2000 to 2005...
made an unprecedented visit to Beijing in 2005, shaking hands with Communist Party leader Hu Jintao, marking the first such Kuomintang-Communist meeting since the end of the Chinese Civil War
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
. Chen Shui-bian and his pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party is a political party in Taiwan, and the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition. Founded in 1986, DPP is the first meaningful opposition party in Taiwan. It has traditionally been associated with strong advocacy of human rights and a distinct Taiwanese identity,...
was reelected in 2004, impeding possible reunification progress. Though Chen will unlikely pledge to the One-China policy
One-China policy
The One-China policy refers to the policy or view that there is only one state called "China", despite the existence of two governments that claim to be "China"....
to begin negotiations, he has pledged the Four Noes and One Without
Four Noes and One Without
The Four Noes and One Without , also known as the Four Noes was a pledge by former President of the Republic of China Chen Shui-bian made in his inauguration speech on 20 May 2000 concerning the political status of Taiwan...
, which quells any armed conflict in the near future. At the same time, Chen has gone step by step with actions provoking Beijing, trying to gradually create a separate Taiwan identity. In 2008, tourism slightly opened between Taiwan and the mainland.
Tibet
The Chinese government and the 14th Dalai Lama14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama is the 14th and current Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are the most influential figures in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, although the 14th has consolidated control over the other lineages in recent years...
have been in contact since 1978, at the behest of the reformist Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
, and have held several secret or formal talks since 1982. The main points of contention are the Dalai Lama's want for a Greater Tibet, or to unite the Tibet Autonomous Region
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region , Tibet or Xizang for short, also called the Xizang Autonomous Region is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China , created in 1965....
with Chinese territory that has not been a part of political Tibet in modern times, and the Dalai Lama's insistence that Tibet should be run "like a western-style democracy
Liberal democracy
Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
" instead of by the Communist Party of China. In response to the Chinese government's rejection of these demands, the Dalai Lama has traveled all over the world persuading foreign governments to demand China accept these terms. As a result of this pressure and the apparent failure of liberal reforms in Tibet to quell separatist
Separatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
sentiment, hardliners within the Chinese government gained in power. Tibetan nationalists felt, then, that they must escalate with violent opposition in Tibet "to prevent China from doing business as usual". After a period of relatively peaceful time since the demonstrations in 1989, the 2008 Tibetan unrest
2008 Tibetan unrest
The 2008 Tibetan unrest, also known from its Chinese name as the 3•14 Riots, was a series of riots, protests, and demonstrations that started in Tibetan regional capital of Lhasa and spread to other Tibetan areas and a number of monasteries including outside the Tibet Autonomous Region...
indeed provoked an international reaction against China
International reaction to 2008 Tibetan unrest
This article gives the international reaction to the 2008 Tibetan unrest, from countries worldwide. The 2008 Tibetan unrest was a series of attacks and protests concerning human rights in China in the build up to the 2008 Summer Olympics...
.
SARS
In November 2002, the SARS epidemic began in GuangdongGuangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
. To stop panic and avoid possible economic damage, and to preserve face and public confidence, local officials applied tight media control. The central Government was knowingly ignorant of the media control. The international community was misinformed about the existence of the virus.
Policy changes became apparent in early April 2003. After intense international pressure, PRC officials allowed international officials to investigate the situation. In late April, major revelations came to light as the PRC government admitted to underreporting the number of cases due to the problems inherent in the health care system. A number of PRC officials were fired from their posts, including the health minister Zhang Wenkang
Zhang Wenkang
Zhang Wenkang was the health minister of China during the SARS outbreak who was sacked for mishandling the matter.Zhang was a supporter of former President Jiang Zemin. After he was fired, he was placed in various ceremonial positions.-References:...
and the mayor of Beijing Meng Xuenong (a Jiang and Hu supporter, respectively), and systems were set up to improve reporting and control in the SARS crisis. The PRC government delivered an official apology. General Secretary Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
promised a total disclosure of SARS data and permitted WHO
Who
Who may refer to:* Who , an English-language pronoun* who , a Unix command* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism- Art and entertainment :* Who? , a 1958 novel by Algis Budrys...
experts to examine the SARS cases. Finally, in July 2003, the WHO declared SARS contained, but warned the disease could emerge again during the next winter. By then the disease had already made its way around the world.
The crisis marked a period of national mobilization, where schedules around the country shifted to accommodate for the control of the virus. Many educational institutions closed or had highly regulated schedules during the period between April and November 2003, and businesses were open on a very irregular basis. Restaurants, usually the centre of social life in China, were nearing bankruptcy. Quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
measures were taken across the country, with designated hospitals in major cities treating the illness. The extreme measures left paranoid citizens with common illnesses to treat themselves at home to avoid contracting the virus at a hospital. Many overcrowded schools divided their classes into morning and afternoon groups to avoid contact due to the close proximity of desks. Workplaces took to handing out mandatory latex gloves and face masks, whose production and sales rose dramatically during this period.
The openness in the latter stage of the SARS crisis showed an unprecedented shift in the Chinese government's policies. In the past, rarely had officials stepped down purely because of administrative mistakes. There was never complete disclosure of classified data and no project in China had been under such international inspection. This change in policy has been largely credited to General secretary, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao is the sixth and current Premier and Party secretary of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, serving as China's head of government and leading its cabinet. In his capacity as Premier, Wen is regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy...
. At the heart of the crisis, Hu made a high-profile trip to Guangdong and Wen ate lunch with students at Beijing University.
Avian flu
Just as China was emerging out of the SARS crisis, it became one of the most accessible breeding spots of the avian fluH5N1
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1, also known as "bird flu", A or simply H5N1, is a subtype of the influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species...
outbreak. While four other Southeastern Asian countries have reported cases of Avian Flu before China, the Chinese government began taking precautions not long after the SARS outbreak in 2003. Beijing has maintained a strict and transparent policy to gain back a reputation damaged heavily during the SARS outbreak. In October 2005, Premier Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao is the sixth and current Premier and Party secretary of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, serving as China's head of government and leading its cabinet. In his capacity as Premier, Wen is regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy...
issued a nationwide directive to heavily prosecute the officials who attempted to hide Avian Flu cases. Since then, a total of 13 cases of Avian Flu in humans have been reported on the Mainland. Since then China has not faced a significant public health crisis.
Fixing imbalances
Hu and Wen's egalitarian focus began with more favourable policies towards China's farmers, who continue to occupy over half of the Chinese population. In 2005, the Chinese government abolished all form of taxation on farming, the first such policy in Chinese history. Rural poverty has also been significantly reduced, as the government aims for a xiaokangXiaokang
Xiaokang is a Confucian term describing a society of modest means, or a society composed of a functional middle-class.- Ancient Use :...
society. Rural regions surrounding the Yangtze River Delta
Yangtze River Delta
The Yangtze River Delta, Yangtze Delta or YRD, also called Yangzi, or Chang Jiang Delta, Rive Chang Delta Tai Lake Region or the Golden Triangle of the Yangtze, generally comprises the triangular-shaped territory of Wu-speaking Shanghai, southern Jiangsu province and northern Zhejiang province of...
have become some of the most prosperous places in China. According to official estimates, by 2006 China's poverty rate has fallen below 10%, while literacy rates exceeded 95%, with few lacking basic amenities such as food, shelter, and health care. In addition, life expectancy is now over 72 years of age, well above the average of developing countries.
Increased standards of living saw the expansion of the middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
, but also meant that the upper strata of society controlled more and more wealth. According to numerous reports from within China and internationally, China now ranks amongst the countries in the world with the largest wealth gap in the world. The creation of a new business elite and their entrance into the party ranks meant that the line between business and politics has been blurred, giving way to more corruption. Numerous regional leaders were fired from their posts and sent to jail on charges of corruption. Most notably, Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu
Chen Liangyu
Chen Liangyu was a politician of the People's Republic of China from the ruling Communist Party, and the disgraced CPC Shanghai Committee Secretary, or the city's first-in-charge....
was dismissed in September 2006 due to a scandal involving moving money from the city's pension fund and opposing macroeconomic control measures issued by the central government.
Regional imbalance, notably the wealth disparity between the hinterlands and the rich coastal regions, have also become a concern for China's rulers. To lessen the effects of the imbalance the government launched the Develop the Northwest and Revitalize the Northeast campaigns, while enacting tight macroeconomic controls in a process of equalization.
China's urban and rural primary health care network has persisted in prophylactic health work. China had basically eliminated snail fever by the end of the 1950s; filarial infection by 1994; and poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis
Poliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route...
by 1995. It plans to wipe out leprosy
Leprosy
Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...
, and iodine deficiency
Iodine deficiency
Iodine is an essential trace element; the thyroid hormones thyroxine and triiodotyronine contain iodine. In areas where there is little iodine in the diet—typically remote inlandareas where no marine foods are eaten—iodine deficiency gives rise to...
in the upcoming years. Despite the huge increases in life spans, China's population growth has been stabilizing due to lowering birth rates since enacting the one or two-child policies in the late 1970s. Population growth exploded under Mao
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
's rule, failing to enact population controls, due to stability, improving nutritional intakes, and increasing life expectancy
Life expectancy
Life expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by ex, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
(so-called "barefoot doctors" used to establish clinics even in the remotest regions of the countryside, bringing free access to vaccination
Vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to stimulate the immune system of an individual to develop adaptive immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by many pathogens...
, preventative medicines, birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
and promoting better standards of sanitation
Sanitation
Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...
). Thus, China has largely resolved the problems of over-population and malnutrition. As a result, China's prospects for maintaining stability are relatively good, enabling one to project that continued growth is likely.
Anti-corruption efforts
A number of leaders, including former General Secretary Jiang Zemin, have acknowledged that corruption could threaten the party's ongoing existence. Corruption has been a major area of focus in the Hu-Wen Administration, although the effectiveness of anti-corruption measures have been disputed. Although it has been argued that corruption is the inevitable result of China's social customs and the complicated nature of social relationships (see guanxiGuanxi
Guanxi describes the basic dynamic in personalized networks of influence, and is a central idea in Chinese society. In Western media, the pinyin romanization of this Chinese word is becoming more widely used instead of the two common translations—"connections" and "relationships"—as neither of...
) in the country, it is reasonable to believe that one-party rule and the current political system is, at least in part, exacerbating the problem.
Opinion polls continually show that corruption (in all sectors of society) is the main complaint of the people. Currently, hospitals, schools, police, and social and legal institutions are constantly affected by bribery
Bribery
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift giving that alters the behavior of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or...
, cronyism
Cronyism
Cronyism is partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications. Hence, cronyism is contrary in practice and principle to meritocracy....
, and nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
. However, the Communist Party of China still asserts a monopoly on exposing corrupt officials and businessmen, and critics accuse the party of selective punishment. Analysts say the authorities are reluctant to pursue senior figures and their allies and punishment comes in the form of political purges rather than genuine law enforcement. Nonetheless, the government has taken some measures to address the situation, strengthening the legal system and trying to make the civil service more professional.
Foreign policy
Hu Jintao's serious public image has led China to a more staunch stance on global affairs compared to the Jiang era. Partly attributed to the United States' attention being focused towards problem regions such as IraqIraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, China has made advances in foreign affairs without much restriction from the U.S. in the 21st century.
North Korea
Recognized as the world's next superpowerSuperpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
, Hu's government was eager to demonstrate China's position of relative influence. China was the mediating nation in the Six-party talks
Six-party talks
The six-party talks aim to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.There has been a series of meetings with six participating states:* The Democratic People's Republic of Korea ;...
, in an attempt to calm threats from North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
's nuclear program. Being the sole remaining powerful ally of North Korea, China continued to supply the rogue state with food and oil, as well as financial aid. North Korea's nuclear test in October 2006 came as a major embarrassment to the Chinese government's policies, and marked the beginning to an eventual split between China and Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il
Kim Jong-il, also written as Kim Jong Il, birth name Yuri Irsenovich Kim born 16 February 1941 or 16 February 1942 , is the Supreme Leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea...
's regime, who is unwilling to pursue a road of economic reform and opening up. In October 2006, there was evidence to suggest that China had cut off certain supplies, including food and oil, to North Korea. Kim Jong-il has shown a less cordial attitude towards China, but has no option but to comply should China continue trade sanctions.
African nations
China has also taken an increasingly prominent role in Africa. President Hu went on a 7-nation African visit in January 2007, solidifying deals and promising financial aid with African leaders with no conditions attached, winning the support, albeit with some caution, of many African leaders.Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
In 1996 the Shanghai Five grouping was created, comprising China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. When Uzbekistan joined the group in 2001 it was renamed to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The SCO states its goals are "the strengthening mutual confidence and good-neighbourly relations among the member countries; promoting their effective cooperation in politics, trade and economy, science and technology, culture as well as education, energy, transportation, tourism, environmental protection and other fields; making joint efforts to maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region, to move towards the establishment of a new, democratic, just and rational political and economic international order."Western analysts note that the SCO may serve as a balance against US and NATO advancement in the region. Some have even called it a new Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
. SCO leaders, however, insist that the organization is not an alliance directed against any other states.
Taiwan issue
As usual, China and world governments still adhere to the one-China policy. Since 1990s, the number of countries which have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan remains in the twenties, and Taiwan has been trying to buy diplomatic recognition from more countries by so-called "money diplomacy".Having become economically stronger, China is emulating Taiwan's "money diplomacy", and persuading those countries to cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan and to sway to China's side.
Promising financial help, buying over high government officials, and even getting involved in election campaigns in those countries have become part of their "money diplomacy". Such policies also brought negative influences to those countries such as corruption and sometimes can even cause the political instability. One example is the riot in 2006 following the general election in the Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands
Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...
. As a consequence of the riot, the then-newly elected prime minister, Snyder Rini
Snyder Rini
Snyder Rini is a Solomon Islands politician who was briefly the eighth Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands from April to May 2006 and has been Minister for Finance and Treasury since December 2007...
, resigned after having served for a very short term.
The recent 2008 elections of Taiwan, however, saw the reinstatement of the KMT party headed and an inclination to better relations between the straits.
Culture
There appeared some changes in various cultural aspects in China. New movements and trends appeared in the society, and the newly forged and ever expanding middle class has the opportunity to have a different life style which few of the former generations had access to.Nationalism
As communist ideology gradually lost its foothold, the PRC turned to establish the legitimacy of the government on the grounds of nationalismChinese nationalism
Chinese nationalism , sometimes synonymous with Chinese patriotism refers to cultural, historiographical, and political theories, movements and beliefs that assert the idea of a cohesive, unified Chinese people and culture in a unified country known as China...
. Patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
is usually reinforced in education
Education in China
Education in China may refer to:*Education in the People's Republic of China*Education in Hong Kong*Education in Macau*Education in the Republic of China For historical perspectives, see*History of education in China*Imperial examination...
. This is reflected by the protests against the visit to Yasukuni Shrine
Yasukuni Shrine
is a Shinto shrine located in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is dedicated to the soldiers and others who died fighting on behalf of the Emperor of Japan. Currently, its Symbolic Registry of Divinities lists the names of over 2,466,000 enshrined men and women whose lives were dedicated to the service of...
by the then-Japanese PM, Junichiro Koizumi
Junichiro Koizumi
is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics when his term in parliament ended.Widely seen as a maverick leader of the Liberal Democratic Party , he became known as an economic reformer, focusing on Japan's government debt and the...
. Such war shrine visits are also unpopular in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
as well as other Southeast Asian countries that were invaded during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. And with sporting events such as the 2008 olympics, the CCP was able to use the event to further increase patriotism in the China. Films that were sponsored by the government such as The Founding of a Republic
The Founding of a Republic
The Founding of a Republic is a 2009 Chinese historical film commissioned by China's film regulator and made by the state-owned China Film Group to mark the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China...
released in 2009, were used to increase the CCP legitamacy in China.
Population
The leaders of the PRC now face a daunting task of pushing ahead with major economic reforms while managing its vast population of 1.3 billion people. The recent economic reforms have undermined the socialist state's safety net and forced people to look to the private sector for work and services. As the economy faces structural changes, 25 to 30 million state workers have been laid off since 1998 while only 8 million jobs are created annually at the current growth rate. With millions of laid off workers roaming the cities, keeping social order will prove a difficult task. Workers' protests have not been too infrequent, with the government usually heeding to the protestors' demands, while arresting their leaders.Another potential crisis is the advent of AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, which by UN estimates, could reach 10 million cases in 2010. In the Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
province, where perhaps hundreds of thousands of people have been infected with HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
by selling their blood, the government is only beginning to pay attention to the problem. Public awareness and widespread acknowledgement has yet to come.
While there have been major economic reforms, the government has been slow on political reform, citing that social stability is vital for a developing economy. Few analysts believe the PRC will democratize quickly, but many see democratization as an inevitable end of the economic reforms. Many in mainland China see one-party rule as effective and any talk of political reform is meant to change the way the party governs, rather than remove it from power. In recent years, local elections with more candidates than positions available have become regular, yet talking about major changes at higher levels remains taboo.
Pollution
China's reliance on coal continue to damage its already compromised air quality. Some of its major cities are among the most polluted in the world.Succession
Although the amount of "inner-party democracy" has increased, the transparency of China's ruling elite is murky at best. Constitutional measures places certain restrictions on government posts, such as the two-term limit for President and Premier. These restrictions will force Hu JintaoHu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
and Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao is the sixth and current Premier and Party secretary of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, serving as China's head of government and leading its cabinet. In his capacity as Premier, Wen is regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy...
to retire. The corresponding party posts, however, are often not governed by strict rules. The mandatory retirement age is 68. As a result, Hu Jintao faces a significant challenge in choosing a successor because he does not have as much power or influence as former leaders Mao, Deng, or even Jiang. China's history knows little of smooth power transitions when there is no designated successor. Therefore it may prove difficult to keep a steadfast policy focus while the central leadership is caught up by a leadership succession crisis.
Future prospects
Domestic issues require more attention from the central government than ever before. The growing number of public protests against corruptionPolitical corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
in China, along with the increasing wealth gap, require political action to stabilize the country. In addition, provincial-level authorities are separating themselves in policy development and implementation from guidelines laid out by the central government. Currently China's leaders have focused on economic means of resolving these problems. Whether they will attempt political reforms may decide how successfully China's internal problems can be resolved.
The Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
took place in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
in August 2008. Expo 2010
Expo 2010
Expo 2010, officially Expo 2010 Shanghai China was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in the city of Shanghai, China, from May 1 to October 31, 2010. It was a major World Expo in the tradition of international fairs and expositions, the first since 1992...
is taking place in Shanghai. To investors and firms, mainland China represents a vast market that has yet to be fully tapped. This point is best illustrated by the rapid growth of cell phone and Internet users
Internet in the People's Republic of China
The first connection of the mainland of the People's Republic of China with the Internet was established on between ICA Beijing and Karlsruhe University in Germany, under the leadership of Prof. Werner Zorn and Prof. Wang Yunfeng. Since then the Internet in China has grown to host the largest base...
in mainland China. Educationally, the PRC is forging ahead as partnerships and exchanges with foreign universities have helped create new research opportunities for its students. Human rights issues
Human rights in the People's Republic of China
Human rights in the People's Republic of China are a matter of dispute between the Chinese government, other countries, international NGOs, and dissidents inside the country. Organizations such as the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have accused the Chinese...
remain a concern among members of the world community and Chinese activists. Many countries hope for China to effectively deal with the challenges within the country, in order to ensure the prosperity of China. Furthermore, many countries have significant trade relations with China.
External links
- Future Hegemonic Rivalry between China and the West? (Erich Weede, Journal of World-Systems Research (1995), Volume 1, Number 14)
- Chinese Communist Party 16th Party Congress (Leadership profiles from the BBC)
- "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping"
- Young Chinese Forum
- Are Things Getting Better in China? - 1949 to 1985