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Income divide poses a threat

By Ed Nash (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-03-05 06:53

As legislators sit down in Beijing this week to discuss China's future, far away in Shanxi Province miners will be doing what they do every day trooping underground to scrabble for coal in some of the world's most dangerous collieries.

The streets around the Great Hall of the People may be clogged with luxury cars, but the average wage in China today is still only 13,935 yuan ($1,798) per year a fraction of the cost of an Audi A8.

The past 25 years have seen tall office buildings, fancy supermarkets, airports and expressways spring up around the nation. They have also seen average wages increase from less than 500 yuan ($64.10) a year to the present level.

But some people have benefited more than others and the rapidly growing wealth of the best off in society raises the spectre of hard times for poorer people, whose wages have not kept pace.

Prices are already increasing beyond the reach of many - the cost of healthcare has risen so high that a serious illness would bankrupt many families.

Social inequality fuels crime and poses a threat to the nation's stability if it is not brought under control.

When Deng Xiaoping initiated the economic reforms that have made China the nation it is today, he said, "Some must get rich first".

Now "some" are rich and it is time to help the rest of the nation catch up.

Streamlining tax bands so foreign-invested companies no longer get an easy ride is a good first step, as are tackling corruption and improving education in poor rural areas.

But it is not enough.

Too often in China reforms are not put into action by local governments. This has to change.

Meanwhile more investment in the future better schools, hospitals and social services for the nation's most vulnerable people - should be a priority.

(China Daily 03/05/2007 page3)