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Dong Lisheng

In Search of Direction After Two Decades of Local Democratic Experiments in China

Assessment of the implications of experiments with village committee elections since 1987 has changed. In 2006, direct town elections were categorically forbidden, but in 2008 public nomination and public selection were resumed in Guiyang City for district and deputy municipal leaders. The paper explores the rationale behind the decisions and concludes that a strategic choice is pending within the central leadership.

La stratégie de redressement du Nord-Est

En 2003, le gouvernement chinois a fait du redressement du Nord-Est une priorité du gouvernement central, attestant que la situation difficile de cette région ne peut plus être ignorée. Au début des années 1990, celle-ci a eu beaucoup de difficultés à s'adapter au passage d'une économie planifiée à une économie de marché. La crise concerne aussi bien le secteur industriel que l'agriculture. Beaucoup de responsables et de chercheurs s'accordent à dire que la région a moins besoin de financements publics et de politiques préférentielles que de règles transparentes et uniformes régissant le marché. Il a été proposé que le Nord-Est devienne une région expérimentale, pour lui conférer certains pouvoirs de décision, en matière d'investissements privés et étrangers, de lancement de projets et d'utilisation des terres.

China's Drive to Revitalise the Northeast

In 2003, the Chinese government made revitalising the northeast a priority, a clear sign that the ailing region can no longer be ignored. In the early 1990s, the region found it particularly difficult to adapt to the structural reforms and the country’s transition from a planned to a market economy. Industry and agriculture touched on crisis. Increasing numbers of officials and scholars agree that the northeast should have open, transparent and uniform rules of market operation, rather than funds, preferential policies and publicity drives. It has been proposed that the central government may consider designating the northeast an experimental region for the delegation of powers of examination and approval over such matters as investments by non-state enterprises and foreign businessmen, the starting of new projects and land-use rights.