Magic behind China’s rise

• Beijing has attained a clear direction

Around forty years back – say in 1978 – Chinese economy was smaller than that of the Netherlands. Today, China is the world’s second-largest economic force. Rural and urban per capita incomes have both risen more than hundredfold over the period and over the last couple of decades, astounding economic growth has become synonymous with China.

The urban per-capita disposable income in China has increased to 36,000 yuan (about $5,245) in 2017 from 343 yuan in 1978, while rural per-capita net income rose to 13,400 yuan from 134 yuan. Starting from the verge of collapse, China’s economy has caught up fast, with its size surpassing Italy, France, Britain, Germany, and Japan to achieve second place in the world.

What China has achieved enabled the world to develop a whole new understanding of socialism and proved that the western model of modernisation is not the sole pattern but only one of many choices.

Contemporary China has opened its doors and fully involved itself in economic globalisation, while embracing the tide of reform and innovation.

As socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, there are mountains to climb and treacherous waters to wade across. After 40 years of exploration, struggles, and accumulation, we have more firmness and confidence in mind when advancing reform and opening up from a new starting point.

Today, China has attained a clearer direction, more distinct value orientation, more mature methodology, and broader mind and vision for the reform and opening up.

The credit of this phenomenal and remarkable turnaround goes to deepening reforms and opening up of Chinese economy, stringent and equal imposition of laws and a visionary and dedicated leadership at heart of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

If CPC general secretary visionary Deng Xiaoping was the architect of the reform and opening up of Chinese economy back in 1978, CPC wizard President Xi Jinping is the one who has given the Chinese economic growth new dimensions and direction.

If CPC general secretary visionary Deng Xiaoping was the architect of the reform and opening up of Chinese economy back in 1978, CPC wizard President Xi Jinping is the one who has given the Chinese economic growth new dimensions and direction

In its 13th Five-Year Plan, Chinese leader approved five major components of the country’s future growth including promoting innovation-driven growth; accelerating agricultural modernisation; advancing the reform of institutional mechanisms; promoting balanced development; and Improving the ecosystem by introducing green development.

Three major strategies contain a cyber-power and national big data strategy, an innovation-driven development strategy, and a strategy to boost food supply by increasing farmland productivity with science and technology.

Five major projects include a major public facility and infrastructure project, an urban underground pipeline network renovation project, international Big Science plans and projects, an industrial foundation consolidation project, and a smart manufacturing project.

Four focuses of balanced development comprise regional coordination, urban-rural coordination, a balance between economic growth and cultural progress, and the integration of the development of the economy with that of national defense.

Five initiatives on green development concentrates on setting up uniform and well-regulated national pilot zones for ecological progress, issuing a national zoning blueprint and a catalog of main farming areas as well as key eco-friendly functional zones, promoting an energy revolution, implementing the national energy conservation action plan, and ensuring all industrial pollutant emissions are up to the standard.

A roadmap for the targeted poverty alleviation drive focuses on relocating residents from areas where they are unable to make a decent living owing to insufficient resources, providing a safety net to those who have lost their ability to work, and exploring a property income-supported poverty alleviation system.

Moreover, coordination will be another component as China plans to coordinate its agenda to utilise both domestic and global markets while also being more active in global governance. Green growth would be another denominator of future Chinese development in order to combat the environmental issues resulting from China’s rapid development, future development means protecting the environment and pursuing environmentally friendly economic growth.

Opening up and deepening reforms would be further pursued. With previous growth being focused towards the key strategic economic territories, China will seek to emphasise and ensure balanced development among both rural and urban areas, and across different industries.

Inclusive development is another denominator of the China’s future plan as President Xi plans to sharing the benefits to the wider Chinese population to ensure that prosperity is shared with the whole nation and delivers improved social services.

Over the last more than 30 years, reform and opening up have helped integrate China into the global economy. Promoting reform and development through opening up has been a successful practice. During the 13th five-year period, China will continue with its policy of opening up.

Specifically, China plans to implement a more proactive opening-up strategy by pursuing deeper reforms and embracing greater openness – two mutually reinforcing goals. The 13th Five-Year Plan will call for reciprocal openness with the financial industry, the Belt and Road Initiative, free trade agreements, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the BRICS New Development Bank, etc. China will be more active in taking part in global economic governance and assuming international responsibilities and obligations.

The hallmark of the drive to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects is that everyone participates in, contributes to and benefits from it while enjoying equal opportunities and appropriate levels of social security. The 13th Five-Year Plan aims to achieve moderate prosperity for all with a holistic approach that covers areas such as education, employment, a social safety net, basic medical care and public health, public cultural services, the population policy, income distribution and targeted poverty alleviation.

These goals share two defining characteristics: First, they conform to China’s national conditions. The proposed plan has made an in-depth analysis of China’s internal and external environments. While fully recognising continuity from the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) period, it gives greater substance to China’s development goals in a contemporary context. The medium-to-high growth target should ensure that the goals of doubling GDP and the income of urban and rural residents are obtained.

This target must also be based on greater balance, inclusiveness and sustainability, while underlining the need to emphasise the quality and efficiency of economic growth against the backdrop of the new normal. Second, these goals can resonate with the public. They involve the public’s top concerns, which the government needs to address at various levels. This will lead to concrete changes that will be beneficial to the public.

A significant factor is that China’s booming economy has not largely divide the Chinese people. Rather, this growth has led to sweeping improvements in the lives of ordinary Chinese people. Around 800 million Chinese citizens have been lifted out of poverty. Life expectancy has increased by 10 years to reach levels comparable to many advanced economies.

Moreover, China is the only country to have progressed from the low to high category on the Human Development Index (HDI). Today, China’s infrastructure has also been transformed extraordinarily.

After three decades of high-speed economic growth, the country is now linked by world class highways, high-speed railways, power transmission and ICT networks, thriving markets in goods and services across country. Financial services, including microfinance, often internet or phone-based, have reached even the most remote parts of the country.

Over the past 40 years, China has also emerged as a major global economic power. Today, China’s trade volumes are the largest in the world, and the country has become one of the world’s leading export markets. China is also one of the world leaders in outward foreign direct investment (FDI).

Despite the ongoing Trade War imposed on China by US President Donald Trump, Foreign-invested enterprises have mounted to 41b331, up by 102.7 percent year-on-year; and the actual use of foreign investment reached USD86.5 billion, up by 6.1pc year-on-year.

It is a heartening sign that President Xi Jinping is committed to deepening the economic reforms and further open the Chinese markets for foreign investments. In his landmark address at the opening session of the 19th National Congress of the CPC on October 18, 2017, Xi said China will deepen economic and financial reforms and further open its markets to foreign investors as it looks to move from high-speed to high-quality growth.

“China will push ahead with market-oriented reforms of its foreign exchange rate as well as its financial system, and let the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources,” Xi said.

“China’s open door will not be closed, it will be only be opened wider. The government will ‘clean up rules and practices’ that hinder a unified market and fair competition, support development of private firms and stimulate vitality of all types of market entities,” Xi said, while pledging to further open China’s services sector to foreign investors.

Over the past four decades, China has contributed immensely to global peace and development. China has not only provided leadership to globalisation by integrating world economies, its leadership has also come up with a brilliant plan to further amalgamate the global economies through Belt & Road Initiative (BRI).

While China, Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the flagship project of the BRI, Pakistan has become a primary partner of China in connecting global economies. Thus, Pakistan has also frustrated enemy’s designs to isolate it globally. There is a need to further support China’s efforts to link up the smaller and big economies so as the de-globalisation campaign could be nailed down and the mission of shared peace, shared development and a shared future of the mankind could be pursued vigorously.