These principles are based on the actual conditions of China, which has not only grown from being one of the poorest nations in the world into the second-largest economy within 35 years, but also accumulated enough risks to ruin itself within a much shorter time frame.
The root cause of the risks lies in the country's unhealthy mode of development: relying on cheap labor and low social welfare to boost economic development, and strengthening the bureaucratic system to maintain social stability. As a result, the country faces one of the widest social wealth gaps in the world and widespread complaints against the authorities and the rich.
The past process has resulted in gradual waning of people's trust in the authorities, as the authorities always tend to defend interest groups, of which they are also one. Never has the trust crisis been so evident since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949.
These problems and risks used to be covered up by the country's double-digit GDP growth. However, as the demographic dividend declines and the past mode of development is no longer sustainable, all these issues have been exposed.
It was amid all these crises that Xi and his team assumed the top leadership and started the new round of reform, which needs to solve the problems without causing any major social upheaval. Whether it will succeed depends primarily on whether the leadership can defeat the resistance of interest groups and avoid mistakes that might lead to it being overthrown.
The interest groups include corrupt officials and certain government agencies that fear their powers are being curtailed by the reforms. The top leadership has shown its determination to propel reform despite their opposition.
Fatal mistakes are possible because the reforms are being propelled by means of the authoritarian resources of the Party, and any mistake might be magnified through the system. That will be especially dangerous in a period when people are making calls for democracy and freedom.
How to maintain the situation while propelling the reform will be a severe test for the top leadership's political wisdom.
The author is vice-president of the China Society of Administrative Reform, an independent Beijing-based think tank.
I’ve lived in China for quite a considerable time including my graduate school years, travelled and worked in a few cities and still choose my destination taking into consideration the density of smog or PM2.5 particulate matter in the region.
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