Zhu presents a pragmatic China

By Robert J. Saiget

BEIJING (AFP): Premier Zhu Rongji showed the pragmatic face of China's leadership in his state-of-the-nation address to parliament Sunday and demonstrated courage by tackling corrupt officials, analysts said.

"I have a favorable impression of Zhu's speech. He attacked corrupt officials in very harsh words, while the work report addressed all the issues of serious concern to the population," Joseph Cheng, political analyst at City University in Hong Kong told AFP.

Zhu spelled out the issues of economic recovery, unemployment, social security and corruption and addressed the policies needed to resolve the issues, he said.

"The solutions are all reasonable and acceptable to the public, the problem is the implementation and the differences in implementation," Cheng said.

Western diplomats listening to the report at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing also came away with a positive critique, saying the work report reinforced Zhu's long-standing reputation as a pragmatist.

"This was a very pragmatic report," one western diplomat said.

"Many of these reforms began when Zhu first came to power (in 1998) and in the report he not only reported the progress made but he also outlined the next steps to be taken," he said, asking not to be identified.

Zhu's choice of words over the reunification of Taiwan and on China's rocky relations with the United States also reflected the importance the fiery premier has placed on a peaceful environment for China's continued economic development and China's entry into the WTO, another diplomat said.

"On the United States and even on the Taiwan issue he stayed away from the harsh rhetoric that many of us have come to expect and this in a sense is a good sign, especially on the issue of Taiwan with their (March 18) presidential elections coming," he said.

Although Zhu said the mainland would "not sit idly by and watch serious separatist activity" in Taiwan, he refrained from the war-like rhetoric on reunification which was repeated by Chinese President Jiang Zemin in a speech given last Saturday.

Zhu's speech also contrasted with Taiwan's first-ever presidential elections in 1996, when on the opening day of the 1996 NPC then premier Li Peng threatened to use force to reunify Taiwan and Beijing announced the start of large-scale military exercises and missile tests in the waters off the coast of Taiwan.

Delegates to the congress were also generally favorable to Zhu's statements on fighting corruption and building an honest government.

"I agree with the premier, he said that some progress in the fight against corruption had been made, but there is still a long way to go," Cheng Youzhi, a delegate from Hebei province told AFP.

Cheng said he supported the Feb. 15 death sentence for corruption handed to former Jiangxi province vice governor Hu Changqing, saying Hu's trial was fair and the verdict reflected the government's will to clamp down on graft.

Hu's appeal was turned down last Wednesday and his execution is expected soon.

City University of Hong Kong's Cheng, however, cautioned that the Communist Party would not allow the anti-corruption fight to go into the highest echelons of Communist Party power.

He cited a US$10 billion ongoing smuggling investigation in Xiamen, Fujian province where the former party secretary of Fujian, now the party boss in Beijing, Jia Qinglin and his wife were vindicated by the party despite widespread rumors of involvement.

Jia is a protege of President Jiang and a leading official in the party's "fourth generation leadership."

"Zhu promised China would not soften its stance on corruption ... but the real test will be the Xiamen case. Both the former and incumbent governor and party secretary have been well protected so far," Cheng said.