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By Dan Martin
China on Saturday began its
annual parliamentary session with the widening wealth gap and
environmental degradation topping the agenda of the world’s most
populous country.
The Chinese People’s Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a rubberstamp advisory body, opened
its 12-day session on Saturday afternoon at the Great Hall of the
People in the capital.
Though powerless, the
2,200-member CPPCC is expected to underline key concerns of the
government ahead of Monday’s full kick-off of the upper house and
main legislative body, the National People’s Congress (NPC).
China’s government is
struggling to maintain what it calls a “harmonious” society amid
an economic boom that has brought income disparities, corruption and
severe pollution that is affecting the health of millions.
Although neither body has ever
opposed a single Communist Party nor government-backed proposal
since the People’s Republic was founded in 1949, the annual
session provides a forum for the government to lay out its aims for
the following year.
The 3,000-delegate NPC will
approve a work report by Premier Wen Jiabao that underlines the
drive for “harmony.”
“All government departments
must be highly attentive to the problems concerning the people’s
daily lives,” the state-run press cited Wen as saying last month
as he prepared the report.
“The government must improve
social welfare work and ensure the basic necessities for people in
poverty.”
The parliament is expected to
pass a long-awaited property law offering extra protection for the
private sector and another that will raise tax rates on foreign
enterprises, bringing them in line with domestic firms at a unified
25 percent rate.
Wen is also expected to set an
economic growth target for this year of “about eight percent,”
government officials that have helped prepare the report said.
--AFP
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