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2013-February-5

China Amid Reform
Promises Pleasant Surprises

 

By ZHU FENG

THE 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stands out as a milestone in the political progress of modern China. Its historic significance is not confined to the smooth power transition that produced the country’s fifth-generation leadership. The event set the course for future opening-up and reforms, first adopted at the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978. It moreover redefined how best to promote China’s political development and fulfill the CPC’s historical obligations. Though the Xi Jinping-Li Keqiang era began just a few months ago, a new vitality is already apparent in China’s political circles.

Reform Is the Sole Solution

Opening-up and reforms have brought about sea changes in China over the past 34 years. The Chinese economy is now the world’s second largest. The country’s social and political structures are increasingly multiplex. Henry Kissinger confessed in his 2011 book On China that when he accompanied President Nixon’s visit to China 40 years ago he, and likely no other person of that time, ever expected this Asian country to be where it is today in the world order.

A rising China, however, is not free of problems. Its own citizens, as well as other peoples, feel ambivalence towards the country’s impressive growth. On one hand, the economy is booming, and national strength has reached an unprecedented level. Time magazine rightly singled out China’s rise as the most influential phenomenon in world politics in the first decade of the 21st century. On the other hand, China is confronted with a mountain of domestic problems engendered by its rapid development, and periodically becomes embroiled in external territorial and security disputes. Domestic issues of broadest concern and sources of the utmost discontentment are corruption, the vested interests of privileged groups, industrial monopolies, the wealth gap, and environmental degradation. These are at the root of various “mass incidents,” of the strained relationship between officials and everyday citizens, and of controversy over China’s international image. China is sounding out new approaches to its development and the multi-various concomitant problems – a task that calls for resolve, guts and a strong sense of mission.

China’s leaders are levelheaded about the country’s problems. Soon after his election as CPC General Secretary, Xi Jinping set out on a three-day inspection tour beginning on December 7. His first port of call was Shenzhen, where he ceremoniously laid a basket of flowers in front of the statue of Deng Xiaoping in Lianhuashan Park. This sent a clear signal – that China under Xi’s leadership will abide by and seek solutions to present-day problems from the thinking of its late leader and architect of the opening-up and reforms strategy. Xi’s visit to Shenzhen signifies his resolve to escalate reforms to the political system, speed up economic restructuring, intensify modifications to the pattern of economic growth and step up innovations to social institutions.

Shenzhen occupies particular significance in the history of China’s opening-up and reform. The southern city was selected as the test ground for the opening-up policy in 1981, and was where Deng Xiaoping made his famous southern tour speech in 1992. If not for opening-up and reforms, Shenzhen would have remained the nondescript fishing village it once was. And were it not for Deng’s sensible intervention in the spat over whether the new policy was capitalist or socialist, and his expressed conviction that “reform is the fountainhead of vitality for all undertakings in China,” the country would have been much different from what it is today.

Xi Jinping reiterated during his December tour that opening-up and reform constitutes a great enlightenment in CPC history – one that has led to significant innovations in both theory and practice. As Deng predicted, opening-up and reform is the fountainhead of China’s development, the trump card through which the CPC and Chinese people keep pace with the times, and the sole path toward socialism with Chinese characteristics.

“This is my first field study tour since the 18th CPC National Congress,” Xi is quoted as saying. “I chose Guangdong because I intended to reflect on China’s opening-up and reform progress on the site where the trend was first set, and in doing so show my resolve to accelerate the process.”

While in Guangdong, Xi was uncompromising in his take on obstacles to reform, and made clear his absolute opposition to “interest consolidation.” In other words, Xi expressed resolve that future reforms will be designed to shatter impediments imposed by the existing profit distribution mechanism, and to surmount boycotts by vested interests.

Small Details Add up to Big Changes

The new leadership’s resolve to continue reforms is epitomized not only by its reprise of Deng’s thoughts and policies but in its advocating of a new code of action. The call to officials to cast off their bureaucratic airs and work under greater self-imposed discipline constitutes the linchpin in China’s efforts to revamp the image of its government and public office holders. It heralds a new wave of change in the country’s political ethos.

One of the directives issued by the new Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee after its formation was that officials should report verbally to their superiors rather than just parrot written reports. Xi set an example by speaking off-the-cuff on various occasions. Wang Qishan, secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China, also explicitly requested participants in an anti-corruption meeting on December 5 to make clear, concise comments, rather than read from pre-written speeches in impenetrable official language.

Droning pre-scripted lectures is a notorious hallmark of Chinese officialdom, a trait in which officials have become entrenched for fear that spontaneity might make them stumble over their words. This passive dependence on prewritten addresses constitutes strong disincentive for civil servants to hone their communications skills, genuinely ply their profession and express spontaneous thoughts. A speaker has no way of knowing the response of his/her audience or of experiencing any interaction unless he or she faces them and sees the expressions on their faces. The new leadership’s tackling of bureaucracy with the pre-written lecture vice is hence a wise opening gambit.

The eight measures laid down at the December 4 meeting of the Political Bureau gives another broad hint on the new leadership’s will to modify government work style and strengthen its bond with the people. They include: improve the way in which government research and investigations are carried out to enable more direct contact at the grassroots; hold fewer official meetings and other events and issue fewer government documents; confine spending on officials’ trips to a minimum, and do not impose traffic control unless necessary; media coverage is not necessary for all public activities of Political Bureau members; leaders should not publish their works and speeches unless at the bidding of the CPC Central Committee; be thrifty and strictly abide by rules concerning housing and use of government cars.

Xi Jinping stated that Political Bureau members should set an example in honoring these principles. Discipline inspection authorities will supervise implementation at different levels and also oversee regular audits. These are clearly the strongest measures ever applied to official work style in the past decade, and constitute an essential step in reforms to China’s political system.

Hierarchical bureaucracy has become a growing impediment to China’s development, and creeps into every aspect of Chinese society. The newly elected Chinese leaders intend to reverse the trend by phasing out the pomp and formality of government events and officials’ activities and voluntarily keeping a lower media publicity profile. They will thus strike at the core failings of China’s political system and make clear their resolve to introduce and enact meaningful changes.

Anti-corruption, Braving the Deep-Water Zone

There are talks of government reforms every year, but the public is still not happy. Those demanded go beyond institutional modifications to a shakeup of the Party and of officials’ interests, and constitute their largest obstacle. Does the Chinese leadership have the guts to wield the sword of reform towards itself? It certainly seems that an anti-corruption groundswell has appeared in China’s political circles, one that implies the new leadership’s determination to bring about a fiery rebirth of Chinese politics.

Within one month of the 18th National Congress of the CPC, eight senior officials came under investigation on corruption charges. Disclosures on the Internet of alleged official malfeasance are taken seriously by governments at all levels, as evident in their substantive actions in response.

“Never think you can both hold public office and make a big fortune” – Xi’s frequent admonition to his underlings at local governments – has since become a catchphrase in China. The Xi administration’s putting Wang Qishan, noted for his economic expertise and reformist stripe, in charge of the CPC’s discipline inspection is generally regarded as a well-calculated decision. Soon after taking office, Wang recommended that all Party members read The Old Regime and the Revolution by French historian Alexis de Tocqueville. It was his way of reminding them that any stopping short of a serious self-examination or failure on the part of the government to promote reforms, particularly to China’s political system, will create uncertainties that overshadow the pursuit of the Chinese Dream, which envisions a strong and affluent China.

Just a few months after its election, the new Chinese leadership headed by Xi Jinping has forged a consensus on reforms and injected a new lease of life into progress. As Xi cautioned, “Empty talk holds up national development; only solid endeavors lead to prosperity.” Whether China will indeed soar as a political force depends on what happens on the ground today and onward. The call for action extends way beyond the economy. The country needs institutional innovations, new conceptions and a fresh ethos.

There is a famous quote from the Book of Songs, “Despite being an ancient state, Zhou still feels its mission is to reform.” The attitude of top CPC leaders towards reform is critical to China’s efforts to sustain fast economic growth and build a harmonious society. It is the common wish of my countrymen that China in the Xi Era remains dedicated to reforms and continues to grow amid them. As long as reforms, particularly to the political system, keep making headway, China will without doubt bring pleasant surprises to the world.

ZHU FENG is a professor with the School of International Studies, Peking University.