温家宝总理接受《华盛顿邮报》总编唐尼采访(7)
唐:今后中国在政治改革方面还会有什么步骤?比如说现在的直接选举,是否会从基层推进到乡镇?
Q: What steps do you anticipate will be next taken in political reforms? For example, might direct elections of local governments be extended upward to the township level?
温:目前,我们在68万个村一级实行村民自治和直接选举。这是一个很大的创举,也是对农民的很大锻炼。我们在县、乡和不设区的市实行的是普选人民代表。在省和设区的市以至中央,实行间接选举。为什么这样做?因为中国很大,人口很多,经济不发达,发展又不平衡,在现阶段不可能在高层开展直接选举,条件还不成熟,首先文化素质就不够。
A: You must know quite a lot about Chinese elections. At the moment, we have introduced the practice of self-administration and direct elections in 680,000 villages. This is a great innovation, and it is also very good practice for Chinese farmers. We also introduced suffrage for the election of people's deputies at the level of townships, counties and urban cities without districts. Indirect elections are held for the leadership of the provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities with districts, as well as the central authorities. Why? This is because China is such a huge country. It has a big population. It is very underdeveloped, and economic development is uneven between regions. So conditions are not ripe for direct elections at the higher levels. The first hindrance in my view is the inadequate education level of the population.
唐:中国现在经济增长势头很猛,比较富裕的地区和比较贫困的地区的差距会不会进一步扩大?
Q: Premier Wen, you mentioned uneven development during this period of great economic growth. Are you concerned about a gap growing in economic conditions between the more well off parts of China and the poorer parts of China, such as in the west?
温:我有这样的担心。前不久,美国商务部长埃文斯访华,先去了中国的西北。他给我带来了两张中国西部农村的照片。他了解到,中国的西北农村还很落后。我对他讲,你知道这一点,今天我们谈论的问题都可以解决了。
我本人到过全国 1800多个县,可以说中国最穷困的地方我都到过。我深知中国的发展是不平衡的。你可以看到,东部地区、一些大城市,有很多高楼大厦。而在一些农村,农民还住在茅草房里,还在用牛耕种。
中国还有3000万人没有解决温饱问题。我们新一届领导通过抗击非典型肺炎这场疾病,得到一个重要的启示,就是要注意协调发展。
城乡发展不平衡,经济和社会发展不平衡,就如同一个人一条腿长一条腿短一样,一定会跌跤的。一个国家一条腿长一条腿短,也会跌跤的。
但是我们必须在发展中解决这些问题,这就是说东部地区继续加快发展,有条件的地方率先基本实现现代化,可以提供更多的财力来支援中部和西部地区。与此同时,我们实施西部大开发战略。最近,我们又提出振兴东北等老工业基地战略。这样实行东西互动,带动中部,使中国能够逐步走向协调发展。但是,请记住,这是一个很长的过程。
A: I do have such concerns. Not too long ago, the Commerce Secretary, Mr. Evans, visited China, and he started his visit going to China's northwest. He came to see me and he was sitting right here where you are sitting. He took with him two photographs that were taken when he visited the countryside in China's northwest. From his visit, he learned that the countryside in China is still very backward. So I told him with this knowledge, the problems that he was about to discuss with me could be solved very easily.
I’ve personally been to 1,800 counties throughout the country. So I'm in a position to say I've seen the worst poverty in China. So I know very well how uneven our development has been. Yes, it is true that in the coastal areas in the East, skyscrapers overwhelm you. However, in large areas of the countryside, people are still living in shabby houses with thatch roofs and still use oxen to till the land. Thirty million people are still below the poverty line.
So one important inspirational lesson we have learned from the struggle against the SARS epidemic is that we have to emphasize coordinated development. And this is what the new Chinese leadership has learned from the struggle against SARS.
Uneven development between the urban and rural areas, and imbalance between economic development and social progress -- this situation can be described with an analogy. It's like a human being who has one long leg and one short leg. If one leg is longer than the other, this person is bound to stumble and fall. And a country with one leg longer than the other will also stumble and fall.
We have worked out a strategy for the eastern part of the country to encourage them to continue with the big momentum of their development. And where conditions permit, they should take the lead in achieving modernization. This is because through their development, a lot of financial resources will be made available to support the development of China's center and west. At the same time, we抮e also implementing a strategy to develop China's western region. And very recently, we decided to implement a strategy to revitalize the old industrial bases in China's northeast. So with good interaction between the east and west, we hope to bring along development in the central region of the country. With all these efforts, we hope gradually we can bring about more coordinated development between the two different regions. But I want to remind you that this could be a very time-consuming process.
(编辑:twinx)