For its foreign visitors, the Olympics seemed to be an introduction to all that free market forces have done to China since Opening Up and Reform began following Mao’s death (which was 32 years ago today, btw, and barely paid any attention).
What does that mean? It led Thomas Friedman to write that American cities now look third world in comparison to some of the ones China has built
Zhang Danhong took it a step further and claimed that through its free market reforms the Communist Party of China has done more than any political force before it by providing the Chinese people with the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Just as Zhang was getting fired by Deutsche Welle for havingspokensaid that in public, with worries of a global economic crisis growing, a high-profile forum was held in Beijing to discuss the direction China ought to take over the coming thirty years.
In attendance were the who’s who in the Chinese free-market economics, political and academic circles: Jiang Ping, Mao Yushi, Qin Hui, Zhou Qiren, Fan Gang and, having just several days prior beenaccused by anti-CCP website Boxun of spying for the US, free market economist Wu Jinglian.
Also in attendance was diehard free market economist Steven NS Cheung, who upped Zhang by proclaiming the current Chinese system the best one seen in human history.
On the weekend a summary of the ideas put forth at this forum was put online and has been getting posted around, bringing the forum discussion online. Flagship Bullog blogger ProState in Flamesyesterday renamed the piece ‘Steven Cheung: “China’s system, #1 under heaven”‘ and netizens elsewhere have been making similar snarky remarks. Namely, the anonymous piece appears to have been written by someone who was featured at the panel and refutes Cheung’s claim, driving home the point that the priority now is for political and social reforms to catch up with economic reforms, starting with the growing rich-poor gap and the fight against corruption:
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Having made a trip especially to attend this conference was ethnic Chinese economic expert Steven N.S. Cheung who asserted, based on this kind of growth, that after fumbling around for thirty years, China has already developed into the best system seen not just in Chinese history, but also in humankind’s. However, both publicly and in private, all mainland scholars unanimously feel this view to be overly optimistic. Economists at the forum all feel that the current economic situation is quite severe, and that the high-speed economic growth seen over the past few years will not necessarily continue. What’s most worrisome, however, are not just cyclical factors, but the deeper-level structural and systematic factors.
[…]
在“市场化三åå¹´”论å›ä¸Šï¼Œç»å¤§å¤šæ•°å¦è€…都ä¸å†åªæ˜¯å‘åŽçœ‹ï¼Œæ‹¿ä»Šå¤©ä¸å›½çš„富裕与三åå¹´å‰çš„贫困相比而沾沾自喜;相å,更多的人å‘å‰çœ‹ï¼Œæ€è€ƒä¸å›½è¿˜éœ€è¦é‚£äº›åˆ¶åº¦å˜é©ã€‚å¦è€…们普é相信,惟有通过进一æ¥æ›´ä¸ºå¹¿æ³›è€Œæ·±åˆ»çš„制度å˜é©ï¼Œæ‰èƒ½å¤Ÿå®Œå–„市场,进而使ä¸å›½ç¤¾ä¼šç»§ç»è‰¯æ€§è½¬åž‹çš„进程。
å¦è€…们æ出的ç–略包括,å‡å°‘政府部门控制资æºçš„æƒåŠ›ï¼›ä¸¥æ ¼é™å®šæ”¿åºœçš„èŒèƒ½èŒƒå›´ï¼Œæ”¿åºœåº”当谨守自己的本分,ä¸èƒ½å……当公å¸ï¼Œä¸èƒ½åˆ©ç”¨æƒåŠ›ç»è¥åŸŽå¸‚ã€ç»è¥åœŸåœ°ï¼›æ”¹é©è´¢æ”¿é¢„算制度,给公众以更畅通的财政民主å‚ä¸Žæ¸ é“。江平教授进一æ¥æ出,å‘展是硬é“ç†ã€äººæƒåŒæ ·ä¹Ÿæ˜¯ç¡¬é“ç†ã€‚总而言之,与会å¦è€…都åŒæ„å´æ•¬ç的说法:å¿…é¡»åšå®šä¸ç§»åœ°æŽ¨è¿›æ”¿æ²»æ”¹é©ï¼Œå®Œå–„宪政的制度框架。
也就是说,ä¸å›½è¦ä¿æŒç¨³å®šå¢žé•¿å°±å¿…须完善市场制度;è¦å®žçŽ°ç¤¾ä¼šç¹è£ï¼Œå°±å¿…须建立æŸç§ç¨‹åº¦çš„æ™®éç¦åˆ©åˆ¶åº¦ã€‚但是,满足民众在物质方é¢çš„需求,å´å¿…é¡»ä¾é åˆç†çš„社会ã€æ”¿æ²»åˆ¶åº¦ã€‚6月25日,ä¸å…±ä¸å¤®æ€»ä¹¦è®°èƒ¡é”¦æ¶›åœ¨ä¸å¤®å…šæ ¡è®²è¯æ—¶æŒ‡å‡ºï¼Œæ”¿æ²»ä½“制改é©å¿…é¡»éšç€ç»æµŽç¤¾ä¼šå‘展ä¸æ–推进。
The strategy that scholars put forth includes reducing the power government departments have to control resources, strictly curb the limits of the government’s role, that the government ought to stick closely to its own role, that it cannot act in commercial functions or use its authority to engage in municipal or land business; that the government reform the fiscal budget system, that it give the public greater access channels for participation in fiscal governance. Professor Jiang Ping further stated that while development is top priority, so too are human rights. Overall, participants all agreed with Wu Jinglian’s statement that political reforms must be implemented slowly and surely to perfect the framework of a constitutional system.
In other words, if China wants to ensure stable growth, it must perfect the market system; if it wants to realize social prosperity, it must establish some degree of a basic welfare system. However, fulfilling the public’s material needs requires the support of a reasonable social and political system. As Chinese Communist Party Central Committee Secretary Hu Jintao pointed out during a June 25 speech at the Central Party School, political system reforms must follow the constant promotion of economic and social development.
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