Letters and Blogs

State policies benefit ethnic minorities

Comment on "Urumqi riots part of plan to help Al-Qaida" (China Daily website)

I have never been to Xinjiang before, but I was born and grew up in Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region. I was very shocked by the July 5 riot.

I deeply believe that the ordinary people of the ethnic minorities are kind and easy-going by nature. In the meantime, they appreciate the tremendous material and moral assistance, and all kinds of preferential policies implemented by the government in the areas of family planning, entrance to higher education, and promotion in governmental posts.

In fact, the central government has long attached importance to Xinjiang, and the local Uygur people on average are living an economically better-than-average life.

Xinjiang is where China borders several Central Asian countries. Separatism, extremism, and terrorism have penetrated the region. The three evils would spare no effort to exploit whatever ordinary disputes between the ethnic groups and rear their ugly heads. While keeping justice, the long-term interests of all ethnic groups should be guaranteed.

Gao Ming

on China Daily website

Time for consumption to play its part

Comment on the article, "Shift gears for lasting economic recovery" (China Daily website)

I fully subscribe to the author's view. Anyone with economic education would know that in a healthy and mature market economy, consumption should be the main impetus for economic development. Sustainable development cannot be achieved without commensurate private consumption and enterprise investment.

However, despite our big stimulus packages, few funds found their way to small and private enterprises. And, the current increase of private consumption, as noted by the author, still contributes less than investment to our GDP growth. Consumption potential needs to be realized through policies.

To successfully change gears, as the author suggests, two issues need to be addressed carefully.

First, pay more attention and allocate more funds to small and private businesses, for they are important players in the market economy. When they recover, more job opportunities will be created, and consequently, private consumption will increase.

Second, strengthen individual purchasing power by boosting disposable personal income. Giving "consumption coupons" to people may be a good idea, since people buy more only when they earn more. Moreover, it is imperative that the system of social security should be improved, because propensity to consume won't increase unless people feel secure about their future.

To sum up, with a powerful jump-start and successful gear shifting, we can definitely take the lead to break out of the current crisis.

Zhang Xiaodong, Central University of Finance and Economics

via email

(China Daily 07/22/2009 page8)