At the Chinese Communist Party's five-ennial general meeting, President Hu Jintao said "rapid economic growth remains the top priority", but acknowledged the need to pay greater attention to the environment and social welfare, adding "to realise social equity and justice is the Chinese communists’ consistent position”.
Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao, the premier, have used the issue of sustainable development and increased welfare spending to distinguish themselves from the previous administration, which focused more on growth.
The other superpower elect, Hillary Clinton, sounds "fair miles" away from China's progressive position - “This administration has unilaterally pursued policies that are widely disliked and distrusted ... yet it does not have to be this way. The world still looks to the United States for leadership. American leadership is wanting, but it is still wanted.” Shaping her leadership agenda, she intends setting up an annual “E8” summit including India and China that would aim to tackle global warming and work towards energy security. She and her carbon-tonne-a-month compatriots should consider asking Hu Jintao and his 73 million party members to convene this meeting - at least their vision of sustainable development aims to shape a better world not simply point fingers at fast emerging economies.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment