CHINA GETS RARE CRITICISM DURING PEOPLE'S CONGRESS
Charges of public sector waste,
corruption and neglect of agriculture have surfaced amid the
compliments in debates at the annual session of China's
parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC).
    China's top entrepreneur Rong Yiren, chairman of the China
International Investment and Trust Corporation (CITIC), who
also represents Shanghai in the NPC, attacked the "profit before
everything" mentality which he said led to theft, embezzlement
and extravagant gifts and banquets.
    Public criticism of policy is rare in China.
    The New China News Agency quoted comments by NPC members on
Premier Zhao Ziyang's draft work program for the year ahead.
    The rural lobby was active. Deputies from three provinces
said Zhao was not forceful enough in tackling their problems.
One said the state had cut spending on agriculture from 11 pct
of total capital investment in 1979 to three or four pct today.
"This is incompatible with the important place occupied by
agriculture," he said.
    Other deputies said the state had broken promises to
improve fertiliser, oil and seed supplies to their provinces.
    Although another congress member was quoted by the agency
as saying Zhao's opening speech last week was "discreet,
appropriate, comprehensive and assuring," others said the
government had spent too much or too little.
    One member, described as a person with no party
affiliation, said people were worried about the state's budget
deficit, projected to reach more than two billion dlrs this
year.
    "The deficit is due not only to the sharp drop in oil price,
but also to lavishness and waste of funds, which should be
stopped," he said.
    "The National People's Congress used to be a rubber stamp,
but now it is a little bit more than that," said a western
diplomat, referring to the range of debate.
    Another western diplomat said the Communist Party had
granted a slightly greater role to the Congress in the last two
or three years and some of its members were testing out their
influence.
    The committee's decision to strike from the agenda a
controversial plan to give greater power to management of state
enterprises and less to local party committees caused raised
eyebrows, the diplomat added.
    One diplomat said Zhao's keynote speech could emerge in
slightly amended form at the end of the 2-1/2 week session in
the Great Hall of the People.
    She said there had been similar changes one year ago, when
the Congress added words about the importance of ideological
education and the need to help poorer provinces left behind in
China's uneven march to greater prosperity.
 REUTER
