ABBEY MAKOE
CHINA’S cashless society has set its sight on becoming the world’s biggest economy through a drastic acceleration of the latest set of reforms and modernisation of the world’s second-largest economy.
The third plenum of the 20th central committee of the communist party of China (CPC), from July 15 to 18 – resolved to deepen reforms comprehensively.
This is in order to advance Chinese modernisation, according to a communique from the third plenary session of the CPC’s central committee chaired by the secretary-general, Xi Jinping, who is also the country’s president.
The important address that revealed plans to put China on a new economically upward trajectory was delivered by the CPC’s Central Committee head, President Xi, in person.
The revelation of the plans has set tongues wagging globally. It shows that China means business. The country with a population of 1.4 billion people has set the highest bar for the rest of the international community in terms of development.
To announce a deepening of reforms in a comprehensive manner, will attract international attention. How will this new reset of the giant economic performer that is China, be mapped out?
For the uninitiated, in a space of only a decade, China had been able to lift at least 850 million people out of poverty in a feat the UN has lauded as unprecedented and commendable.
“Reform” and “modernisation” have been China’s key buzzwords since the country remarkably undertook to reposition its economy and political clout in global affairs in the 1970s during the era of Deng Xiaoping.
Since then, China has never looked back, balancing the participation of the private sector with that of the State in an endeavour to have a meaningful and impactful public-private partnership that continues to drive the economy to perform optimally.
The resolution adopted at the landmark meeting in Beijing is regarded as ground-breaking. It unveiled more than 300 reform measures in fields such as economy, culture, politics, society, ecological civilisation and party building – covering all aspects of Chinese modernisation led by the CPC and President Xi.
In the new batch of significant CPC resolution, which serves as an overall plan, it is clear that China is enthusiastic and steadfast in pursuit of the process of “reform and opening up” a new journey in the new era.
According to the communique, the resolutions aim to address the major institutional problems identified as a hindrance to Chinese modernisation. For example, China’s market system still needs improvement. Also, the over-reliance on key and core technologies “controlled by others” has not seen fundamental changes. Other challenges include persistent wide gaps in development and income distribution between urban and rural areas as well as between the many regions across the country.
The CPC says: “By clarifying why, where and how to carry out reform on the new journey, the document guides the reforms in a pragmatic way, combining both problem-oriented and goal-oriented approaches”.
What makes the third plenum and the resolution adopted so much more significant, according to the communique, is the following: “The more complex the reform agenda, the greater the demand for precise orientation, careful deployment and solid implementation.”
The next frontiers of growth in the Chinese economy and overall development will also be premised on the positive response to the needs of the new era workforce, characterised by a great deal of high-tech way of life. The CPC’s overarching understanding and appreciation of the mountain of developmental challenges that lie ahead is that “deeper reforms”, as the resolutions proposes, “lead to better opportunities”.
China’s majestic economic success has been based in large measure on the nation’s high level of enlightenment, which has triggered a multi-faceted innovation drive. Naturally, innovation has led to new industries, high job creation, wealth accumulation and the mushrooming of the middle class – a major barrier against poverty and want.
In order to boost all-round innovation, China will be intentional in deepening comprehensive reform in education, structural scientific and technology, as well as institutional reforms for talent development. This will be achieved through a whole-scale education and training at tertiary level.
As China reboots its economy through a new set of proposed reforms, the role of the State will remain just as important as the need to create an enabling environment for the private sector, or non-public entities, to prosper.
This is part of the CPC’s plan to continue building a high-standard socialist market economy. The resolution reaffirms that the market will play the decisive role in resource allocation and that the government will better fulfil its role.
The latest proposed reforms will sound like music to the ears for big business, or private sector. The resolution states that “restrictions on the market will be lifted while effective regulation will be ensured to better maintain order in the market and remedy market failures”. The policies aim to strike a balance between “efficiency and fairness”.
Another buzzword in China’s economic language is “new quality productive forces”. The resolution says: “We will improve the institutions and mechanisms for fostering new quality productive forces in line with local conditions, for promoting full integration between the real economy and the digital economy, for developing the service sector, for modernising infrastructure, and for enhancing the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains.”
The concept of “opening up” is almost sacrosanct in China’s identified path to development. The concept of “opening up” is also regarded as a “defining feature of Chinese modernisation”. The resolution reads in part: “China will steadily expand institutional opening up, deepen the foreign trade structural reform, further reform the management systems for inward and outward investment, improve planning for regional opening up, and refine the mechanisms for high-quality co-operation under the road and belt Initiative (RBI).
The RBI has resulted in huge economic gains for Africa and the Global South over the past decade. It is a core of China’s foreign policy that is premised on the notion of a shared future and win-win co-operation.
There is a lot that the developing economies across the Majority World can learn from China’s successful development strategy that the CPC appraises and resets.
One of the key lessons out of China’s leaf is how best to strike a balance between the State and the private sector in pursuit of a harmonious collective drive for development whilst ensuring that the poor are not exploited as business makes its profits.
Makoe is the founder and editor-in-chief: Global South Media Network