China’s moment of reflection
 

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China’s moment of reflection


17 October 2007



AS THE once-in-five-year congress of the Chinese Communist Party is under way, the stress is on maintaining China’s rapid economic growth as a matter of “top priority”. At the same time, there is the promise to recalibrate the country’s economic model away from the slogan of “growth at all costs”, to make the growth process “more balanced and sustainable”.


Without doubt, this will be a more responsible approach, but it is imperative that the process builds its momentum now.

China’s economic growth in recent years has been a miracle of sorts, especially as it maintained a double digit rate for the past five years, the period when Hu has been at the helm. It must be noted that this growth was achieved over and above the pace set by his predecessor, the visionary Jiang Zemin, who pulled the nation’s economic pursuits out of its archaic Communist mindset, and gave them a stunningly capitalist orientation. China, thus, is playing a big role in globalisation and liberisation, hand-in-hand with the capitalists around the world. The bottomline, however, is that the people in general have benefited largely.

In all fairness, China has used its economic resurgence to effectively tackle poverty. It did so by expanding industrial activities, resulting in the creation of millions of job opportunities, and boosting its exports to unbelievable levels. However, the cities have been the focal points of this hyper-activity, whereas the rural areas have received less attention, resulting in occasional eruption of tension and even public protests. Without doubt, Hu’s assertions about a more balanced and sustainable growth will, and should, aim at overcoming such weaknesses, and, at the same time, also address issues like pollution that have been a matter of serious concern.

More balanced growth for China should act as an example for the rest of Asia and beyond, where progress is slow, poverty the bane, and systems in a mess. China’s strength is that it has sought to combine the best aspects of the two dominant socio-economic systems — capitalism and socialism — and produced impressive results, at least on the economic front.

The leadership is clear that it cannot rest on its laurels, anyway. The ultimate aim, as Hu stated, is to “realise social equity and justice”. China still has a long way to go in these respects, and considering the explosion of population there, the task at hand is not easy for even the best leadership.

Alongside, China also needs to address concerns in respect of its poor human rights record, not to speak of the gulf between its systems and the democratic traditions in the developed world. Without doubt, a progressive, welfare society should be the ultimate aim of the Chinese leadership. It would mean increased emphasis, in particular, on human rights and freedom of speech.