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A pat for China

THE World Bank has commended the Chinese government's resettlement record - at "well over 30 million", the world's largest - as a "model" for most types of resettlements. A leaked report, in which the bank reviewed its own resettlement policy, said, "Over the past 40 years, tens of millions of Chinese have been forced to move their homes, farms or jobs to make way for new roads, factories and dams" that have supported China's "remarkable economic and social development".

The conclusion comes despite the bank's own admission that before the Cultural Revolution ended in 1978, those displaced typically made sacrifices instead of getting benefits from the projects that affected them. The report said, thanks to the "persistence of planning elements in the Chinese economy", displaced communities in China are a prosperous lot.

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