With millions of people still living in poverty, a senior
Chinese official called on private businesses to contribute more to
help close the country's yawning income gap.
"Private entrepreneurs should follow both market principles and
the fine Chinese tradition of helping others, and work for both
personal wealth and the whole nation's common wealth," said Jia
Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing on
Wednesday.
Jia made the remark in a meeting with a group of private
entrepreneurs who just returned from an inspection tour of less
developed areas in north China's Shanxi Province.
Statistics show that China's population living in absolute
poverty decreased from 250 million in 1978 to 26.1 million at the
end of last year. China still has 23 million rural people whose
per-capita yearly income is less than 683 yuan (US$84).
The Chinese Association For Corporate Social Responsibility
(CACSR) which is to be officially launched in August is calling on
businesses to shoulder more social responsibilities. It wants firms
to take real action such as promoting environmental protection and
helping alleviate poverty.
Multinationals such as Nokia, IBM and CISCO, and Chinese
companies like the China Pingan Insurance Company, the TCL
Corporation, and the China Merchants Bank, are members of
CACSR.
(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2006)