官員稱中國推動“共同繁榮”並不意味著“殺死富人”

Recently Yahoo News on line reported the following:

China's 'common prosperity' push does not mean 'killing the rich', official says

Wed., August 25, 2021, 9:46 p.m.

By Gabriel Crossley

BEIJING (Reuters) -China's drive for "common prosperity", as President Xi Jinping aims to ease inequality in the world's second-largest economy, does not mean "killing the rich to help the poor", an official from the ruling Communist Party said on Thursday.

China must also "guard against falling into the trap of welfarism", Han Wenxiu, an official at the central financial and economic affairs commission, told a briefing in Beijing.

Those who "get rich first" should help those behind, but hard work should be encouraged, he said.

"We cannot wait for help, rely on others for help, or beg for help. We cannot support layabouts."

Investors have been rattled by a series of measures, including a crackdown on several industries, that are in part aimed at curbing cost-of-living pressures, as well as tightening anti-monopoly rules and data protections.

Han said recent policies regulating internet companies aimed at irregularities and illegal behaviour, and "absolutely" did not target private companies or foreign companies.

Reforms four decades ago that unleashed China's market economy enabled the accumulation of vast personal wealth, with hundreds of billionaires minted in the still avowedly socialist country, deepening inequality, especially between urban and rural areas.

The high cost of urban living, meanwhile, has contributed to a sharp slowdown in births, prompting China this year to allow families to have up to three children instead of two. Slowing economic growth and cutthroat competition have also prompted some young urbanites to embrace a passive attitude known as "lying flat".

 EXCESSIVE INCOMES

Legal income should be protected but China should "rationally adjust excessively high" incomes, according to a meeting chaired by Xi earlier this month. High-income groups and firms are also being encouraged to contribute more to society.

Charitable giving should be encouraged through taxation policies and can improve the "distribution structure", but donations were "not compulsory", Han added.

Several tech industry heavyweights have recently announced major charitable donations and support for disaster relief efforts. Online gaming giant Tencent Holdings said this month it would spend 50 billion yuan ($7.71 billion) to promote "common prosperity."

"More big corporations are going to set up social responsibility funds if they have yet to do so, and the size of donations from them should increase," Iris Pang, chief economist for Greater China at ING, said in a note this week.

"Corporates need to take bigger steps to enhance their corporate governance and social responsibility. They need to work to get ahead of the regulators."

China's wealthy eastern province of Zhejiang, which is a "demonstration zone" for common prosperity, also announced Thursday that by 2025, rural residents should have on average annual disposable incomes of 44,000 yuan per year.

That compares with average nationwide rural disposable incomes of just over 17,000 yuan in 2020, according to official data.

($1 = 6.4830 Chinese yuan renminbi)

Translation

北京（路透社）- 一位執政的共產黨官員在星期四說, 中國推動“共同繁榮”並不意味著“殺富濟貧”, 中國國家主席習近平旨在緩解世界第二大經濟體的不平等。

中央財經委官員韓文秀 (Han Wenxiu) 在北京舉行的一次吹風會上說，中國也必須“謹防掉入福利主義的陷阱”。

他說，那些“先富起來”的人應該幫助落後的人，但應該鼓勵努力工作。

“我們不能等待幫助，不能依賴他人的幫助，也不能乞求幫助。我們不能支持懶惰者。”

一系列措施令投資者感到不安，包括進行打擊多個行業，這些措施部分旨在遏制生活成本壓力，以及收緊反壟斷規則和數據保護。

韓說，最近監管互聯網公司的政策旨在針對違規行為和非法行為，“絕對”不針對私營公司或外國公司。

四十年前釋放中國市場經濟的改革, 促成了巨大的個人財富的積累，數百名億萬富翁在這個仍公開宣稱的社會主義國家誕生，加劇了不平等，尤其是城鄉之間的不平等。

與此同時，城市生活的高成本導致出生率急劇下降，促使中國今年允許家庭最多生育三個孩子，而不是兩個。經濟增長放緩和競爭激烈也促使一些年輕的都市人接受一種被稱為“平躺”的被動態度。

 

過高的收入

根據習近平本月早些時候主持的一次會議，合法收入應該得到保護，但中國應該“理性調整過高”的收入。還鼓勵高收入群體和企業為社會做出更多貢獻。

韓補充說，應通過稅收政策鼓勵慈善捐贈，並可以改善“分配結構”，但捐贈“不是強制性的”。

幾家科技行業巨頭最近宣布了重大慈善捐款和對救災工作的支持。網絡遊戲巨頭騰訊控股本月表示，將斥資 500 億元人民幣（77.1 億美元）促進“共同繁榮”。

ING 大中華區首席經濟學家 彭藹嬈 (Iris Pang) 在本週的一份簡報中表示： “更多大公司將要設立社會責任基金，如果他們還沒有這樣做的話。他們的捐款規模應該會增加。”

“企業需要採取更大的措施來加強他們的公司治理和社會責任。他們需要努力超前監管機構。”

作為共同富裕“示範區”的中國東部富裕省份浙江周四也宣布，到2025年，農村居民年均可支配收入應達到 4.4萬元人民幣。

相比之下, 官方的數據顯示2020 年全國農村平均可支配收入為略高於 1.7 萬元人民幣。

($1 = 6.4830 人民幣)

              So, according to Iris Pang, chief economist for Greater China at ING, "More big corporations are going to set up social responsibility funds if they have yet to do so, and the size of donations from them should increase".  I am wondering if the foreign companies inside China will need to do the same. If not, it seems that local and foreign companies will not be competing on the same footing.