Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/cnforbiddennews Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/chinaforbiddennews Hong Kong media has revealed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Beidaihe meeting will have two main threads. The hidden thread is the Bo Xilai case; and the visible thread is the Third Plenum of the CCP economic reforms. Shanghai Free Trade Area (FTA) is deemed the brain-child of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. This project has been strongly opposed by different interest groups within the CCP. Outside observers commented that during the Beidaihe meeting, the CCP leadership factions are not only competing over Bo's life or death. They are also fighting about Li Keqiang's economic reforms. Will Li Keqiang's program come to fruition? Will they resolve problems in the Beidaihe meeting? Let's look at the reports. CCP state-controlled China News Network has reported that Li Keqiang chaired a State Council executive meeting on July 3. He has adopted China (Shanghai) FTA Program. However, the mainland Chinese media quoted news from the South China Morning Post on August 5. There were different angles appearing. Reports alleged that Shanghai FTA experimental zone executive program has not been released. This is, in part, because the Shanghai Free Trade Zone has come into conflict with the existing domestic laws. It is said that legal loopholes must be fixed first before declaring free trade area rules. CCP Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang commented during an interview on August 7. Construction of the Shanghai FTA is a priority of regional economic development during the second half of the year. The FTA overall program will soon be officially approved. Shanghai FTA was described as Li Keqiang's brain-child by a government informant. It was part of Li Keqiang economic reform, but faces strong opposition by the China Banking Regulatory Commission. It also faces opposition from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. South China Morning Post quoted three first-hand informants within the CCP high-level meeting. They alleging that during a closed-door meeting of the State Council, Li Keqiang got angry about it. Jason Ma, Economic Review Expert: "Li Keqiang proposed relaxing a little bit, and forming a Shanghai free trade zone. He wanted to relax the banking and financial regulations in this zone, but encountered a lot of opposition. This interest groups has such an attribute. It can only continue to increase its interests, but absolutely will not give away any." During the Beidaihe meeting, proposed reform of state-owned enterprises also had disagreements. The Economic Daily in Beijing, directly under the CCP Central State Council, recently released five articles. They "analyzed SOE reform hotspots," and said that state-owned enterprises cannot be privately owned. Otherwise, it will shake the foundation of China. It also said sharing state-owned enterprises in Russia led to a major economic disaster. Chen Ziming, Head of the Institute of Socio-Economic Sciences in Beijing: "The Soviet Union made state-owned assets into national demutualization. Now Chinese scholars have not mentioned this step. I think these comments are normal. It is widely used in various countries, including Hong Kong and Macao in China. It won't cause state collapse." Ming Pao in Hong Kong recalled a speech from princeling ,Qin Xiao at Tsinghua University, in 2010. Qin is the former Chairman of China Merchant Group. Qin mentioned at that time that "it should orderly and equitably distribute huge state-owned assets to people." Many in Chinese economic circles have put forward this view, including famous economists Wu Jinglan and Yang Fan. Jason Ma: "Li Keqiang just took office, and vowed to give up this historical hangover. Then banks opposed him, and created money shortages, and the economy started to slow. This caused him to have to start to keep the seven rules. So the economy of China is actually being controlled by interest groups formed in history. Various officials are just between different interest groups, and are trying to balance it." Li Keqiang became angry with the issues over the Shanghai Free Trade Area. He will be against all the odds at the Beidaihe meeting for his economic measures. However, it is still considered that it does not touch the fundamental needs of China's economic reform. Jason Ma: "It's not really to distribute assets of the existing interests groups of the CCP to the people. They would not even talk about that. What they talked about was not to be more considered." Many foreign analysts believe that economic reforms were stalled when Hu and Wen were in power. The new leaders are eager to restart reforms. Otherwise, the economic downturn will lead to public discontent, and make the CCP leadership weaken.

• published: 14 Aug 2013
• views: 23