Beijing, under the leadership of Prime Minister and economic czar Zhu Rongji, has continued a crackdown in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces in southeastern China, the country's richest and most independent region, the Washington Post reports. The crackdown, which began with an October visit by Zhu, is seen as part of the central government's nationwide campaign to restore its command over China's political and economic life.

Zhu is credited with masterminding a plan to create a central monetary policy. To bring the country's 31 provinces and major cities "to heel," the Post continues, "Zhu and Jiang Zemin have replaced more than half the Communist Party and provincial chiefs. "The era of decentralization, which began 20 years ago with the return of Deng Xiaoping to power, seems over," says Wu Guogang, a former influential Communist Party official who now teaches at Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The risk this campaign runs is substantial, the Post adds. Guangdong province accounts for 20 percent of China's foreign investment and 40 percent of the nation's exports. China's development over the past 20 years has relied on the creativity of its provincial leaders. Their skills to break or bend Beijing's rules have led to China's rapid transformation from a moribund inward-looking Communist state to an influential Asian power.

A nationwide campaign is underway to promote the 20th anniversary of the December, 1978 initiation of gaige kaifang, or "[economic] reform and opening to the outside world," the Far Eastern Economic Review reports. Memorative media and public exhibits will culminate on December 18 with a speech by Communist Party chief and President Jiang Zemin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The Review adds, some of China's foremost economists have issued a study in the November issue of the Economics Research Journal, published by the influential Chinese Academy of Sciences, showing that only half of the Chinese economy is now "marketized," with some sectors lagging far behind. The study, compiled by Professor Chang Xuze at the State Developing Planning Commission's Research Institute and Gao Minghua, a post-doctoral scholar at Beijing University, calculate that market forces influence only 17 percent of capital distribution, 23 percent of land transfers and only 51 percent of enterprise management. Economist Dong Fuen notes that although China now calls itself a "socialist market economy," there is no consensus within the Communist Party as to what the term actually means.

"The Western mode of political systems must never be copied," stated President Jiang Zemin during a speech at the Great hall of the People before 6,000 members of the political elite to mark 20 years of economic reforms and modernization, the Associated Press reports. "The [communist] system must not be shaken, weakened or discarded at any time," Jiang said. The speech, AP observed, did not appear to articulate any new policies for further reforms but repeatedly vowed to uphold Communist Party dominance.

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