The rich have a role at two sessions

Should or should not more rich people attend the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee is a difficult question.

This year's Hurun Report, which monitors the fortunes of China's rich, says a record 203 of the 1,271 wealthiest Chinese - that is, one in every six - are delegates to the NPC or members of the CPPCC National Committee. Their number has increased from 155 last year, and the cumulative wealth of the 36 richest is about 1.2 trillion yuan ($191 billion), which is higher than Vietnam's GDP.

Many people are worried that the growing involvement of the super rich in the two sessions will further widen the wealth gap and increase social inequality. In fact, such a trend reflects China's economic development.

It is acceptable for rich Chinese, as Chinese citizens, to get more deeply involved in politics. But their rights and obligations should be the same as other NPC deputies and CPPCC National Committee members and they should not enjoy added privileges.

China is already the world's second-largest economy, with its GDP crossing $10 trillion in 2014, and the private sector as an important part of the country's socialist market economy has played a role in this development. Hence, to maintain economic growth under the "new normal" and expedite the transformation of the economic development model, the voices of Chinese entrepreneurs, especially the leading ones, who are good at innovation and possess cutting-edge technologies, have to be heard by policymakers.

But there is a fear that the rich NPC deputies could influence China's lawmakers by submitting proposals that are beneficiary to entrepreneurs. Therefore, measures should be taken to ensure they fulfill their political responsibilities strictly according to law.

Township and county-level deputies are elected directly, while those at the prefecture, provincial and national levels are elected by lower-level deputies. Besides, deputies are subject to supervision by voters in their electoral districts or units that elect them. This entire process should be strictly supervised, as should the process of how the NPC deputies and CPPCC members fulfill their political responsibilities so as to avoid corruption - for example, use of money to "buy" a representative's post. This is important because such corruption could cause many social problems.

People are paying greater attention to rich people becoming NPC deputies and CPPCC National Committee members also because society today attaches increasing importance to wealth. People should therefore hold an objective and rational view of wealth, without overemphasizing its importance. Whether an NPC deputy or a CPPCC National Committee member is qualified for the post should be judged by his performance at the two sessions rather than his/her wealth.

In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China's reform and opening-up said: "Let some people get rich first and (help) more get rich." Deng's policy continues to yield results.

In his Government Work Report last week, Premier Li Keqiang said the per capita disposable personal income increased 8 percent in 2014 after deducting price factors, faster than the country's GDP growth, and 12.3 million people in rural areas were lifted out of poverty.

But the Gini coefficient, a key indicator of wealth inequality, was 0.469 in 2014. This calls for China to accelerate income distribution reform to narrow the wealth gap, because only by raising social equality can the doubts created over rich people's participation at the two sessions be cleared.

The author, an English interpreter for Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s, is Chairman of China Energy Security Institute. The article is an excerpt from his interview with China Daily's Zhou Wa.