Zhou Ruijin, former editor of the People's Daily, said China must pursue democratic reforms to change economic and social imbalances threatening the country's stability, according to Reuters. In an interview with the Southern Metropolis Daily in Guangzhou, Zhou said that China is being weighed down by social and economic problems between the wealthy east and poor west, waste of natural resources and environmental havoc, gaping income disparities, a threadbare social welfare net and rampant corruption. A fervent advocate of market reform in the 1990s, Zhou said China should now be "pushing forward political system reform, above all reform of the government administration", including an expansion of direct elections.
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