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SCMP Reporter

PATRIARCH Deng Xiaoping has warned against straying from the primacy of public ownership and the birth of a ''new bourgeois class''.

  In today's issue, the Beijing-affiliated Hong Kong journal, The Mirror, also pointed out that Executive Vice-Premier Zhu Rongji had been given new authority to carry out an economic policy based on boosting macro-level economic controls.

  The Mirror, which often reflects Beijical stability.

  It said the leadership now insisted that in spite of the fast-paced growth of the private sector, the ''wholly people's owned sector'' must remain the mainstay of the economy.

  ''In reform, we must insist upon two basic principles: the predominance of the public sector; and [all the people] getting rich at the same time,'' The Mirror quotes Mr Deng as saying.

  The patriarch added that while private enterprises and those with foreign participation should be encouraged, they could not threaten the predominant position of the government-owned sector.

  Mr Deng reportedly warned that while China's goal in the short to medium term was an annual per capita income of a few thousand American dollars, this should not spawn a ''new bourgeois class''.

  ''If a new bourgeois class is formed, we will have gone down an evil path,'' he said.

  Other officials pointed out while the Beijing was converting some state companies into joint-stock concerns, this did not mean privatisation.

  Analysts said these views were a climbdown from the much more radical proposals adopted by the Communist party's Third Plenum last November, when many ministers and delegates welcomed as a positive development the displacement of the public by the privat   The Mirror also disclosed that the leadership had dropped the long-standing slogan that political reform was as important as economic reform.

  It said the new line was that changes in the political structure must also serve the interest of sustained and stable economic development.

  The journal quoted Vice-Premier Qian Qichen as saying: ''It is difficult to develop democracy without sustained economic growth.''   Meanwhile, the status of Mr Zhu as Mr Deng's major aide and executor in economic policy has been consolidated.

  The Mirror characterised Mr Zhu as ''the General Designer of major reform programmes''.

  It said ''interference in Zhu Rongji's [efforts] to reform the economic system has greatly decreased''.

  The journal confirmed that while touring Heilongjiang on April 17, Mr Zhu was powerful enough to dismiss provincial party secretary Sun Weibin on the spot.

  Other Chinese sources said Mr Zhu's designation as acting premier during premier Li Peng's recent trip overseas was another sign of his growing influence.

  Chinese sources said, however, that Mr Zhu faced tremendous pressure from local leaders.

  They said in spite of Mr Deng's backing, his position would be jeopardised if economic problems did not improve by the end of the year.

ing's thinking, quoted Chinese sources on the fact that the Communist Party had adopted a more conservative line to preserve polit 



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