Op-Ed Contributors

Vital element in the China model

By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-16 08:01

In their eyes, China's success results from the swift and efficient decision-making process they label "authoritarian capitalism," a vital component of the China model.

The con-side voters also focus on China's economic miracle, but claim that daunting wealth inequality, ecological degradation and corruption are the by-products of such a development strategy.

Arguing that China doesn't offer a better development model than the West, Susan Shirk, a world-famous China studies scholar, is publishing a book titled Changing Media, Changing China, which will be published in December. She clearly understands that the essence of China development is changing, changing and changing.

Against such a backdrop, it is assumed that Shirk doesn't agree with The Economist motion, not because the Western model is better, but because the China model has not taken shape, as change is still the theme of this country.

One high-ranking official recently told China Daily that China's development is the grandest experiment in human history, taking the country's historical background and present conditions into consideration.

He said there is no established model so far, and China, because of its big population, cannot afford any failure to borrow Western models.

But, he said this populous country has been open, and will continue to be open, to all legal, political, economic and spiritual legacies from across the world to realize economic modernization and social harmony.