Making the right moves

Effective privatization and market liberalization are achieved by strong state direction, as was the case with similar reforms in the 1980s in Britain under former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Grimstone says.

He argues that UK's experience of major privatization in the 1980s means it has many important lessons to share

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with China, and this recent history shows that both countries have a lot in common.

"It is very easy to forget that going back as recently as the 1980s UK's telecommunications, travel, aviation, steel, ship building and other industries were controlled by the state. It is very easy to forget the scope of reform in the UK," he says.

But Grimstone remembers these reforms very well because he worked as a civil servant in the UK's Treasury back then and had first-hand experience working on reforms that still shape the UK economy today.

"When I worked with Margaret Thatcher and (chancellor of the exchequer) Nigel Lawson, there was strong central direction. You have to involve the market in the reforms. You have to take risks and be bold in terms of what you're doing," he says.

Based on that experience, Grimstone says it is important for China's reforms to be "done step by step" and for those developing the reforms to consult with experts who are practitioners in the market and have skills and knowledge to help the state determine the right balance it needs to achieve with the market.

To help the Chinese government devise policies for the Shanghai FTZ, Grimstone's consultation group has already assembled about 50 international firms in various fields to share "what we learnt here and elsewhere in the world".

He says one example is the need for practical maritime insurance contracts. In London, two parties can easily use a simplified form of the standard contract after an agreement is reached, whereas in China insurance contracts need to go to the authorities for approval.

"There is no need for that, because the contract form is approved by the government. As long as the industry is regulated, the government doesn't need to look at each individual step. It knows how each little thing runs by its supervision of the whole system."

It is this type of detail that would make China's financial markets effective and competitive, Grimstone says. He likens China's current financial market reform to an impressionist painting, whereas the end product should be a finely detailed Chinese ink painting.

"China has vision from the top, so we can begin to see the architecture. This is like an impressionist painting, as long as you look from a slight distance, you think the colors look beautiful. But for a Chinese painting, you can look very close and the details are very fine," he says.

Grimstone says he is confident about China's financial reforms because the Chinese government is good at long-term thinking, partly because the Chinese political system allows each leader to stay in office for 10 years.

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