A FIERCE struggle has broken out among Chinese Government departments and factions over the revision of the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1991-95) and the 10-Year Economic Blueprint for the 1990s.
During his tour of southern China early last year, patriarch Mr Deng Xiaoping indicated the plan and blueprint, which had already been passed by the National People's Congress (NPC) a year earlier, had to be revised in light of the need to speed up reform and economic growth.
Mr Deng instructed that the growth rate be adjusted to over 10 per cent from six per cent, and more market elements be incorporated.
The patriarch also indicated that moderate leaders led by Vice-Premier Mr Zhu Rongji would be put in charge of revision work.
In the past month, however, central planning-oriented bureaucrats led by the Prime Minister, Mr Li Peng, have taken advantage of the need to cool down the overheated economy to seize the initiative.
In an interview with the magazine Chinese Elite, Mr Li said the revision of the plan and the blueprint ''is being assiduously carried out by the State Planning Commission [SPC] in conjunction with other ministries and commissions''.
The Prime Minister said the new versions would be ready for approval by the NPC this year.
