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Get ready for a rough ride from world recession, Chinese President tells party
Jane Macartney
London Times
Monday, Dec 01, 2008
The Chinese President has issued a rare warning to the ruling Communist Party, telling his officials that the global economic downturn is so severe that it could shake its 59-year grip on power.
President Hu Jintao’s remarks, at a weekend meeting of the ruling 25-member Politburo, appeared on the front page of the party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily. It was his bluntest message yet delivered on the crisis to China’s 1.3 billion people and more than 70 million members of the party.
The subtext of his speech was the increasing risk of social unrest caused by China’s rising unemployment, as a slump in exports leads to factory closures and a fall in property sales results in abandoned construction projects.
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The President, who is also the head of the Communist Party, said: “In this coming period, we will starkly confront the effects of the sustained deepening of the international financial crisis and pressure as global economic growth clearly slows.” He said that the slowdown would “steadily weaken our country’s traditional competitive advantages”.
The speech is the most authoritative warning yet of the blow dealt to the world’s fourth-largest economy by the international financial crisis. Tens of thousands of migrant workers at failed factories are already heading back to their farms, and economists say that the real drop in export orders may not be felt until early next year.
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Mr Hu said: “Whether we can turn this pressure into momentum, turn challenges into opportunities, and maintain steady and relatively fast economic development … is a test of our Party’s capacity to govern.”
It is unlikely that the President expects a challenge serious enough to force the party from power. But his warning is evidence of anxiety over a threat to social stability, and is almost certainly a reminder to regional authorities that they must maintain order by stepping in to resolve popular grievances. Protests over factory closures, particularly in the most developed southern coastal zone, have erupted in recent weeks.
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