What A Relief! With Party Congress Over, "Economic Growth Still Comes First" For China - ENN

[hatrack]

BEIJING - As the dust settles on China's Communist Party Congress, academic and market economists are unanimous that fast growth remains the overriding priority for the leaders of the world's fourth-largest economy. "Economic growth, or economic development, still comes first," said Song Guoqing, a prominent economist at Peking University.

Song said he had been worried going into the Congress, which ended on Monday, that President Hu Jintao's emphasis on narrowing China's wealth gap and reducing damage to the environment could bring about a sudden drop in growth. Hu got the Congress to encapsulate his slogan "scientific development" -- shorthand for environmental protection and fairer wealth distribution -- in the Party constitution.

But Song said he was relieved after reading the documents for the five-yearly Congress, especially Hu's main report. "To some extent, it attached even greater importance to economic development than the past," Song said at a faculty meeting on Tuesday to study the outcome of the gathering.

Indeed, Xiao Qun, a social sciences researcher, said a computer wordcount showed "development" and "economy" were the two words used most by Hu, who was confirmed as Party secretary for a second five-year term.

EDIT

http://www.enn.com/business/article/24046

[pscot]

1. Sounds like a document the U.S.Congress

could embrace with very few modifications. Can anyone seriously believe that our system is capable of a competent response to the shit-storm gathering on the horizon?

[ramapo]

3. Absolutely no chance

I don't even think there is even a chance of an incompetent response

[tom_paine]

2. Pretty amusing, wouldn't you say?

We ARE a bunch of shortsighted primates, aren't we?

Oh my yes, economy first, by all means, acquistive tool-using primates of Sol III!

:rofl:

[AlecBGreen]

4. here's the rub

China desperately wants two things - to keep its poor, rural population under control and to become THE world superpower. Its a very delicate balancing act. Any policy which benefits one of those goals will pretty much f*** up the other one (in their line of reasoning). The only thing keeping them moving is this year-in-year-out 10% growth. If it slows, they wont catch up to the US before peak oil. If it speeds up, they'll burn out and they'll have a rebellion. Hu Jintao is in very precarious position. He honestly cares about the environment and helping the nations poor but he feels he MUST maintain this breakneck growth or the wheels will fall off.