Opinion

Chinese economic locomotive needs new fuel

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-16 11:31

The Chinese economic locomotive needs new fuel to stay roaring ahead.

Aiming for a "harmonious society" also calls for a genuine and universal sense of fairness and well-being. The current approach to development, which is conspicuously preoccupied with economic growth, needs a change to meet that goal.

The 12th Five-Year Plan carries high expectations precisely because this country has arrived at a new threshold where reforms in some fields have almost exhausted their potential and long-defaulted reforms in others have had to be kick-started.

All eyes are on the Fifth Plenary Session of the Communist Party's 17th Central Committee, not just because, in reviewing the new five-year program for national economic and social development, it will set the tune for the next five years. The session is also broadly anticipated to maneuver a strategic shift in the Party's, and hence the country's, approach to development. Should the optimistic assumptions about reshuffles in governance philosophy hold true, it may also provide clues for the future orientation, if not immediate next steps, of government reforms.

Decisions made at this particular Party conference are believed to set the overall trends largely because of the widening consensus that a "second round of reforms" has become a pressing need. How the Party handles the many multiple-choice questions concentrated in the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2010-2015) and beyond holds far-reaching significance for the country as well as the world at large.

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Growth concerns have justifiably dominated our development philosophy because feeding and clothing a nation of more than 1.3 billion people have never been easy. More than three decades of rapid growth, double-digit growth for the most part of that time, has more or less misled many people - including even some of our compatriots - to believe that we no longer fit in the developing-country camp.

But our real troubles lie elsewhere, with sustainability first and foremost. Yes, our per capita GDP ended up surpassing anticipations for the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010). Our progress in public service and emissions reduction were also impressive. But much of that was achieved at very high prices, which will prove unaffordable in the long run.

Besides balancing the need to transfer the mode of growth with the continuity of decent growth, the more challenging task is to deliver what President Hu Jintao called "inclusive growth". This is a tricky move that entails sophisticated economic deliberations and a very strong political will. However difficult it turns out to be, it is a crucial move we can no longer skirt around.

Widening gaps between the rich and poor as well as inequality in income distribution have become outstanding causes for concern. The next five-year plan must put sufficient weight on how the fruit of growth is fairly shared while ensuring reasonable growth.

All the optimistic anticipations, however, rest ultimately on substantial reforms in the way of governance. Promises of a service-oriented government must be reflected in how administrators position themselves and handle vested interests.