This friday, China's parliament starts its annual session of the National Peoples Congress where many politicians will cover various economical and social topics. This annual meeting has gained more importance and attention over the years, which makes it a useful platform for airing of public opinion and political debating. However, it stays mainly a ceremonial act as a part of the Chinese political policy.
China's economy, as everyone knows, has been growing very fast in recent years. The country reported that last year it recorded an 8.7 percent Gross Domestic Product growth despite the worldwide crisis. Chinese planners hope that China keeps growing this fast without falling in inflation or creating stock market bubbles as this would put an immediate stop to the growth.
Nonetheless, the economic growth doesn't give benifits to everyone . The poor seem to get poorer as the rich get richer. Also, the sky-rocketing house prices should be discussed at the National Peoples Congress aswell as people's incomes and the rising environmental corruption.
The growing rich-poor divide is very troubling and Chinese leaders acknowledged that it is undermining social stability and weakening their control on 1.3 billion people!
Around 135 million people still live on less than $1 a day, which is an amazing 10% of the population. Also, 10 million people have no access to electricty. I hope the Chinese leaders address the social and economic instability for the common people so that they can change the current outlook, which looks very dark for a lot of people.
Tom Bogaert
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