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June 30, 2000 VOL. 29 NO. 25 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK 'Build Law to Fight Graft' PM Zhu on corruption, Taiwan and the WTO on elections Early next month, Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji will travel to Germany, Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, Luxembourg and Holland. It was to mark the occasion that the heavy doors of Zhongnanhai, China's leadership compound, swung open to European journalists last week. For the first time since Zhu's visit to the United States in April last year, foreign reporters met and interviewed the premier (in batches of two). Zhu, 72, looked frail under his make-up and spoke softly, though his legendary wit was on display. Excerpts from his conversation with Anne Meijdam, a Dutch journalist and Asiaweek contributor: China's imminent accession to the World Trade Organization will lead to many job losses. Why is membership a good thing? I am convinced that the positive aspects outweigh the negative. That's true not only for the national economy, but also for China's relations with other countries. The opening up of our markets to foreign producers will eventually be good for us and our international ties. The implementation of WTO rules in China will be tough. How will you enforce access to the Chinese markets? It's true that China's entry to the WTO will not be without problems. The fact is that no country in the world can guarantee 100% implementation of its regulations. There is a basic logic, though. If regulations might lead to profits in a certain locality, you can be sure that they will be 100% implemented. But if regulations compromise local interests, they will be much harder to implement. Implementation will be less than 100%. It's an old problem. Isn't it time to take anti-corruption campaigns away from the party and the government, and hand them to independent commissions? It's not a matter of commissions or no commissions doing the job. In the end, it comes down to building the rule of law and the socialist legal system. The views of the government on corruption are clear. And although I must admit that our laws need improvement, the rampant corruption is not a problem of a lack of law, but a problem of implementation. There are 180,000 judges in China, but only 10% have received university education. So many are not up to their task. China has similar education problems with its police force. Progress in the fight against corruption will be in tandem with advances in building the legal system. Why are sworn enemies North and South Korea able to make progress on reunification, while China and Taiwan have been in deadlock for 50 years? Is it because both Koreas showed a willingness to make concessions to each other? The comparison between both Koreas and the Taiwan issue is irrelevant. Taiwan is part of China. Taiwan was returned to China after World War II after a long Japanese occupation. China resumed its sovereignty over Taiwan according to international settlements. So China's rule over Taiwan is based on such accords. The North-South Korea problem is completely different. In 1954 the peninsula was divided by international agreements into two separate countries. Even so, we welcome the success of the recent summit and hope that the two countries can achieve peaceful unification. That is in the interest of stability and peace in Asia and all over the world. But our policy toward Taiwan is clear. It is peaceful unification under one country, two systems. The mainland has already made maximum concessions. So long as Taiwan can recognize that there is only one China, we are prepared to discuss any issue. President Jiang Zemin has already made his eight-point proposal on Taiwan, under which Taiwan's political and economic situation will not change at all after reunification. The mainland will not interfere in their internal affairs and will not station troops in Taiwan. This policy is more generous than our policy toward Hong Kong and Macau. We even proposed that Taiwan's leader can take up the deputy position in the Chinese government. What other concessions can we make? The only one left would be to recognize Taiwan as a separate state. The two Koreas meet to discuss reunification, whereas Taiwan is talking about independence. So where is the similarity? Taiwan's leaders don't even admit that they are Chinese people. When will China undertake political change and liberalization, to go with its economic reforms? While we are working on economic change, political reform is also on the way. Our view on democracy is this: Different countries have different kinds of democracy. Right now, representatives of the Chinese people make up the Chinese parliament. That is democracy in China as it is practiced now. And let's be fair. It is not only direct elections that are the hallmark of democracy. Look at Taiwan. Only 40% of the electorate actually voted for Chen Shui-bian as head of the Taiwan government. And still he was installed. Is that democracy? Write to Asiaweek at mail@web.asiaweek.com
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