From: "Rosser Jr, John Barkley" <rosserjb-AT-jmu.edu> Subject: More on China Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 17:52:43 -0400 () This continues a thread on this on this list as well as carrying over some items from the marxism list, on which I do not intend to post anymore (no more satires or sophomoric smirks, unless people get really badly behaved over here!, :-)) 1) Louis Godena may be right that there was not a formal acceptance by the entire 14th CPC Congress of the designation of the PRC as a "socialist market economy." But it is certainly more than just a designation by "some local party branches." Numerous official government spokesmen (not speaking as CPC reps) have used this designation to describe the economy, especially in dealings with international funding agencies. 2) Louis Proyect on M1 claimed that I have no concern about China's enviro crisis. Sorry you have a headache, Lou, so I guess you have not been reading my China stuff carefully. I have raised this issue and noted the book by Vaclav Smil, _China's Environmental Crisis: An Inquiry into the Limits of National Development_, 1993, Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, as a valuable reference on this matter. Yes, I think this is a very serious matter. What does LG think? 3) I continue to argue that the most serious issue is "whither the TVEs?" They are indeed the element of the PRC economy that is most different from the NEP, indeed absolutely unique to the PRC. There is more variety among them than I stated in the previous posts on this, including great variation in the treatment of labor. A new development since the privatization law of 1993 has been the emergence of so-called "collective collectives," also a unique form to the PRC, that has the elements of workers' ownership, something not seen in China before. These continue to have complex relationships with local governments. 4) Another very big issue is going to be what happens with the absorption of Hong Kong. There are a variety of possible outcomes and paths from this. 5) Finally, let me make a claim based on my own experiences there, as well as examining data and reading stuff. There is the potential for a tremendous socio-political explosion growing there. Anything can happen, and I emphasize, anything. China has surprised the world before with sudden changes, and it can do so again. I look forward to the thoughtful and serious participation of others in this very important discussion on this new list. To both of the Louises, I got my nasties off in my last couple of posts over on M1. I am out of there, and I, for one, intend to play it straight over here. Hope you guys do too. Barkley Rosser -- Rosser Jr, John Barkley rosserjb-AT-jmu.edu
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