Development model

The government has just ordered a 12 percent cut in the prices of 300 types of drugs, covering 2,300 specific products. Violators, according to a newscaster on state TV, will be “severely punished.”

This, of course, can’t possibly be Manila, where implementation of the cheaper medicine law or Republic Act 9502 cannot get off the ground, with hospital owners leading the resistance.

The 12 percent cut was ordered by the central government in Beijing. And when the Chinese government says violators will be severely punished, you better believe it.

Say what you will about the land where the Internet is censored; its system has brought discipline plus rapid prosperity to its 1.3 billion people within just three decades.

The country has become the world’s third largest economy and is politically stable enough to start focusing on an aspect of human development that has long taken a back seat in modern China: civil liberties.

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Last April, Beijing completed the “National Human Rights Action Plan of China” for 2009-2010. The comprehensive, detailed plan sees the full enjoyment of civil liberties as a goal that a developing nation aspires for as economic rights – the rights to “subsistence and development” – are achieved.

The concept that emerged after the horrors of the Holocaust and World War II was that human rights are universal and inherent. The Chinese agree with the universality of rights but believe people and institutions must first be prepared for the responsible exercise of freedoms.

Detailed measures are included in the action plan to strengthen the judicial system and the rule of law, to promote transparency at every level of government, to make citizens fully informed of their rights and responsibilities, and yes, to develop democracy.

Chinese human rights include the rights to employment, basic living conditions, social security, health and education plus cultural and environmental rights.

A special section in the action plan guarantees human rights in the reconstruction of areas hit by the killer earthquake that devastated Sichuan province in May 2008.

Those rights include housing, employment, reconstruction of schools, and health care. For the long term, urban and rural planning must henceforth include the construction of “emergency shelters and venues for disaster relief.”

“Any acts of embezzlement, or unauthorized withholding or misappropriation of relief funds or materials will be investigated and severely dealt with in accordance with the law,” the action plan declared.

This being China, there is no doubt that the warning will be carried out.

In the areas still reeling from typhoon Ondoy, I am sure there are Filipinos who wish a similar system of governance could be in place here, with action plans actually carried out in a manner that modern China is becoming known for: with brutal efficiency.

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China is also dealing with corruption. In a provision on “the right to oversee,” the action plan vows to supervise “principal leading cadres… to ensure the correct exercise of power.”

“Laws and regulations on the prevention and punishment of corruption will be strictly implemented; so will rules that require leading cadres to be clean and self-disciplined,” the action plan states.

In its 60th year, the People’s Republic of China is confronting the human rights issue head-on, challenging long-held western concepts of freedom and responsibility.

It is even presenting Tibet as an issue of independence, pointing out that before annexation by China, 95 percent of the 1.5 million Tibetans were “serfs” of the monks and elite who support the “supreme leader of Old Tibet,” the Dalai Lama.

Beijing is embarking on a human rights education program, starting in secondary school and using mass media and the Internet, to educate its citizens about their “rights and obligations” and the ways of democracy.

The Chinese are gradually enjoying freedom. Direct elections are being held regularly at the local level. In 2001, homosexuality was no longer regarded as a psychological or physical abnormality but a natural phenomenon.

China is creating a merit-based society, where everyone has the opportunity to rise to the top not because of a famous surname or the right connections but because of capability.

The country is ahead of us in certain aspects of freedom. Beijing guarantees women reproductive rights, including information and assistance on family planning and contraception. It has set aside about P14 billion as a development fund for ethnic minorities and promises its citizens the right to “cultural service facilities.” It has set up a hotline for environmental protection.

In 1988, sex education started in middle school, although girls and boys were still segregated when teaching about genitalia. In 2003, the first annual Guangdong Sex Festival was launched. On Dec. 1 last year, sex education started in primary school.

China is redefining human rights, adding new categories to the universal ones listed in the United Nations declaration: the right to be free of poverty, and the right to good governance.

At the 17th Party Congress in October 2007, President Hu Jintao said, “Power should operate under the sunshine.” Beijing vows increasing openness, transparency and accountability in government.

The tradeoff is the curtailment of certain civil liberties, notably involving freedom of information, expression and assembly.

How many Filipinos would not mind paying that price?

Chinese officials readily admit that they still have a long way to go in economic development, democracy and the attainment of all the rights specified in their action plan.

But with what China has achieved in the past 30 years, other developing countries are taking notice of what is now being touted as the Chinese model.

Its soft-power approach to diplomacy is also raising its global leadership profile. If countries such as North Korea and Myanmar ever open up to the world and start respecting human rights, it will not be because of pressure from the United States but because of inspiration from China.