Prosperity gap a root cause of social injustice

Social justice, through the fair and equal distribution of the political, economic and other interests for all members of society, is a fundamental political value. True social justice means equal allocation of rights, opportunities, and judicial protections. As an important element of good governance, impartiality requires effectively eliminating the polarization between the rich and the poor and safeguarding of the fundamental rights of the women, children, minorities, and other vulnerable populations.

The unequal distribution of income is an important root cause of social injustice.

Social injustice is indeed the main reason for a decline in people's satisfaction with the government. Although it has previously been theorized that improvement in living standards should equate to higher satisfaction with the government, my research shows that despite constantly rising incomes, satisfaction with government institutions has not risen.

By my standards, there are two basic premises for happiness - one is health, another is a sense of security. Without these two premises, money and power cannot make one happy. While health depends mainly on one's own actions, a sense of security tends to reflect more on the government's administration of the country.

A survey found that more than 70 percent of the Chinese people believe the social unfairness is the reason for the decline of the government credibility. In fact, China's reform and opening-up since the late 1970s has greatly improved the livelihood of the Chinese people, even for the country's poorest citizens. Why, then, are a vast majority of people still unsatisfied? They feel the system is unfair.

The corruption cases of former Railway Minister Liu Zhijun and others have greatly undermined the credibility of the government. These are precisely the underlying causes that threaten the stability of the country.

Social inequities are reflected in many aspects of life, but one of the most profound is the country's unfair income distribution system. Among other things, materialism acts as a very important factor in creating this phenomenon.

Throughout various periods in its history, China has different income distribution systems. At the early stage of the reform and opening-up, China adopted a distribution system of "giving priority to efficiency with due consideration to fairness," which proved to be effective in practice. But our ultimate goal is to achieve common prosperity. When public wealth accumulates to a certain extent, we must adjust the income distribution policy so that social equity can be placed in a more prominent position. After the 16th CPC National Congress which was held in 2002, the central government proposed a scientific approach to development and repeatedly stressed the need to pay more attention to social fairness. However, without adequate and effective mechanisms, the gap between rich and poor will continue to grow.

In recent years, the Chinese government has carried out a lot of innovative measures in the protection of social equity. These reforms have achieved many historic achievements, which have been extremely important for achieving social equity and justice. Most farmers speak highly of the Party and the government. When compared with the past, their living standards have been improved tremendously. However, some young people and intellectuals may see things from another point of view. When they make horizontal comparison with developed countries in the West, they place even higher demands on the Chinese government.

A new plan for reforming the income distribution system will be drafted in the fourth quarter of 2012. China's efforts over the past decade to establish a sound social security system should be praised. But the government also needs to introduce more substantial reform initiatives.

Specifically, in the income distribution reform plan, in addition to the direct income distribution measures, there should also be some measures to promote social justice, such as an inheritance tax and property tax, so that more people could be able to enjoy the fruits of reform and opening-up.

China is at a decisive stage of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. This will be a special period where conflicts arise when different interest groups have different values, opinions and needs. China needs to seize this very important period of strategic opportunities to promote political reform in accordance with the requirements of its scientific development concept.

Furthermore, China needs a breakthrough on the vested interests rather than a mutation of its political development. Mutations in social politics would cost too much and would be detrimental to the country.

Yu Keping is the deputy director of the Central Translation Bureau.