Party Officials: Social Instability Not Serious, Party Campaigns Will Solve

Remarks to the press in early March by a senior Communist Party official deny that China faces rising social instability and assert that the Party's "advanced education" campaign will allow Chinese leaders to address popular discontent. Chinese authorities have ruled out "democracy for all" as a source of anarchy rather than a path to social and political stability in the government's 2005 White Paper on "Building of Political Democracy in China."

Ouyang Song, Deputy Director of the Party's Organization Department and Deputy Director of the Leading Group for the "advanced education" campaign, made the comments at a March 1 State Council Information Office press conference. They substantially parallel remarks made in July 2005 by Li Jingtian, Ouyang’s predecessor in these posts, at a similar press conference.

Ouyang's remarks conflict with previous statements of central government officials and academic analysis. In a July 2005 speech to the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Public Security Minister Zhou Yongkang noted that 74,000 public protests involving 3.67 million people occurred in 2004, a significant increase from the 58,000 protests involving 3 million people in 2003, and a seven-fold rise from the 10,000 protests recorded in 1994. Chinese scholars have noted a similar rise in mass labor incidents, increasing from 1,482 in 1994 to about 11,000 in 2003.

For translations of Ouyang and Li's remarks, links to relevant articles and transcripts, as well as additional background on the "advanced education" campaign, see below.

Ouyang Song's Statements

According to a March 2 Beijing News article and a transcript of the press conference appearing on the Chinese government's Web site, at a March 1 State Council Information Office press conference, a Agence-France Presse reporter asked Ouyang Song, Deputy Director of the Party's Organization Department and Deputy Director of the Leading Group for the Party's "advanced education" campaign:

What we have heard regarding villages is not like [what you have described] . . . Every month, we hear at least twice about rural farmers engaging in mass petitions, demonstrations, or riots because of land requisitions or the abuse of power. These are the cases we have heard of, there are many others we haven't heard of. Official statistics also show that more and more incidents of social discontent are taking place, more than 87,000 last year.

Ouyang responded that:

First, I want to correct two of your statements: I have heard of nowhere in China that has experienced riots, and mass incidents are not increasing.

China is the most stable country in the world. This point has already been recognized by the world. As to the fact that a few particular areas have experienced some mass incidents, in a country as big as China, in an era experiencing rapid development, this should not be considered unusual . . . as to those few areas with mass incidents, the Party and the government are highly attentive and concerned.

Ouyang also said that mass incidents constitute only a small portion of the 87,000 public order disturbances in 2005 reported in public security statistics in January 2006. He also asserted that social conflict is most pronounced at China's current level of development, where per capita GNP falls between US $1,000 and US $3,000 per year.

Ouyang said that Party's advanced education campaign would allow it to address rural instability. He said:

The unfolding of the "advanced education" campaign will directly aid in the reduction of the number of mass incidents. As I explained earlier, through the development of the first stage of the "advanced education" campaign, the work styles of government bureaus has been improved. Through the second stage of the "advanced education" campaign, the top issues and problems of concern to the masses have been resolved. As a result, the degree of contentment of the masses has dramatically increased, and mass incidents have naturally decreased . . . Through study and education of rural Party members and cadres, they have increased their ability to perform mass work, and as a result, mass incidents caused by crude work styles has significantly declined.

Li Jingtian's Statements

At a July 7, 2005, State Council Information Office press conference, a Reuters journalist asked Li Jingtian, then the Deputy Director of the Party's Organization Department and Deputy Director of the Leading Group for the Party's "advanced education" campaign:

In recent months, China's countryside has witnessed a number of riots. What method does the Chinese Communist Party use to deal with riots? Of what use are the "advanced education" activities in improving the means of Chinese authorities to handle these problems?

Deputy Director Li responded:

We term the incidents in China's rural areas "mass incidents" and not riots. Everyone knows that China's reforms and modernization has entered a crucial period, where per capita income increases from US $1,000 to US $3,000 a year. This period is the "golden development period" and the "period of pronounced social conflict" . . . In the current "advanced education" campaign, we will educate the vast number of Party members and grassroots cadres, and take additional steps to establish the notions of "Party service for the public," "administering for the people," and "serving the people with all one's heart". . . I believe that through "advanced education," these [mass] incidents will decrease substantially. Of course, it's not possible that none will occur whatsoever."

Advanced Education Campaign

The Communist Party Central Committee’s and the State Council’s December 31, 2005, joint opinion on rural development flagged the "advanced education" campaign as a key component of Chinese political efforts in rural areas.

Ouyang noted that this campaign began in January 2005, and that the rural component of the campaign began in November 2005 and will continue until June 2006. Ouyang described the key goals of the campaign as political education for rural cadres, strengthening party organizations in rural areas, identifying key areas of popular concern, and implementing responsibility systems for local Party leaders.