China may look to end its state monopoly on farmland sales and take on staggering rural government debts in a drive to rid the countryside of discontent, a leading Chinese adviser said yesterday.
The office director of the Communist Party's "leading group" for rural policy, Chen Xiwen (
But Chen told a news conference that farmers may eventually be allowed to sell land directly, cutting out officials from taking the lion's share of profits from often corrupt land deals -- a problem that has fueled rising rural unrest.
"It's true that the attention of society has been turned toward conflicts arising from the use of farm land for some time now. It's also true that it's currently a factor in bringing about instability in some rural areas," he said.
According to the government's own statistics, more than 200,000 hectares of farmland is turned into factory floors or residential areas every year.
The clashes typically erupt because farmers feel they are not adequately compensated.
"Eventually, we have to propose steadily reforming the land acquisition system itself," he said.
"Here the crux is whether land for development must be all monopolized by the state, so that the state acquires the land and then passes it on to developers."
Any move to lift the current state stranglehold on farmland sales would break with policies the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping (
Chen said that the government would move carefully on land reform.
"If it went out of control, there would be major losses of China's precious land resources," Chen said.
Chen advises Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) and other top party officials on rural policy, and helped draft China's ambitious plan to build a "new socialist countryside" and narrow the stark gaps in income, health and schooling that have divided urban and rural citizens.
Last year, rural residents earned an average 3,255 yuan (US$400) each in annual income, while urban residents earned an average 10,493 yuan, Chen noted.
Reducing that still widening gap would be a "long process, but the gravity of the problem has attracted serious attention from all sides," he said.
Clearing away mounting rural government debts and directing more government revenues and bank loans to farmers would be "crucial" to the government's plans, he said.
In the late 1990s, those debts reached 360 billion yuan (US$44.7 billion), as local officials rushed to increase staff and build showcase projects, Chen said.
"Financial support for agriculture is crucial, and at present it appears to be clearly insufficient," Chen said.
He added that the government would embark on a nationwide audit of rural government debts and then decide how to deal with them.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
RSS