'Pro-rich' proposals a cause of controversy
10/3/2008 10:49
Zhang Yin, the "empress of paper" once ranked as the Chinese mainland's
richest woman, sparked a heated debate at the annual full session of the
national political advisory body with three "pro-rich" proposals.
Some
members of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference criticized what they call her biased proposals at the
session, which runs from March 3 to 14.
One of the proposals from Zhang,
also a CPPCC National Committee member, is to amend the Labor Contract Law,
which was put into effect on January 1 this year, to exempt labor-intensive
companies from signing permanent contracts with staff having more than 10 years'
service.
Her second idea is for the personal income tax rate on those
earning more than 100,000 yuan (US$14,062) a month to be cut from 45 percent to
30 percent. And third, she suggested that the government lift the duty levied on
imported environmental remediation facilities for five to seven
years.
"She is speaking for herself and people like her," said Shi
Dingguo, a political adviser and former official of the humanities school of the
Beijing Language and Culture University.
"She is rich, running a
labor-intensive, polluting business that needs to import environmental
remediation facilities," Shi said.
Zhang, 51, is the founder and board
chairwoman of one of the world's biggest paper makers, Nine Dragons Paper
Industries. She was named by the annual Hurun Report as China's richest woman in
2006, with a fortune estimated at 27 billion yuan.
"She should not do
this," Shi said. "Being a CPPCC National Committee member, she should speak not
only for herself but also for the public."
However, Zhang Yichen, another
adviser and chief executive officer of the CITIC Capital, said it was
understandable that a CPPCC National Committee member would raise proposals on
familiar topics. "Of course, it's a question whether she speaks for herself or
the whole industry," he said.
CPPCC member Jing Tiankui agreed a
political adviser should bear a stronger sense of social responsibility, but
noted that it was good for Zhang to step up, speak out and get feedback. "It
means the session is more open and tolerant."
Ge Jianping, an adviser
from the business circle, said he agreed with Zhang on an amendment to the Labor
Contract Law. "Companies do feel pressure after the law was put into force," he
said.
Xinhua
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