Taking baton of reform

The reform and opening-up set in motion 40 years ago was a "crucial move" for the country, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, stressed in October.

To stabilize the country after years of turmoil and actuate its belated development, China's leaders at that time acted with expedient pragmatism, initiating reforms to meet people's aspirations for better lives and opening up the country to the outside world in a bid to acquire the technology, science and management skills that were essential for the country's modernization.
These moves transformed China. And the speed and extent of that transformation is probably hard to fully appreciate unless experienced first-hand. In what has been a little more than a generation, the country has lifted more than 800 million people out of extreme poverty, and from being one of the poorest countries in the world it has become the second-largest economy and largest contributor to global economic output. Whichever way you look at it, that's a remarkable achievement.

However, until relatively recently the reliance on reported statistics by local officials led to an omission of oversight that conceded wanton ecological damage and environmental degradation, the loss and destruction of cultural heritage, a widening income gap, a growing divide between urban and rural areas, and rampant corruption.

The sustained anti-corruption campaign and the attendant inspections by discipline watchdogs, along with the rise of social media and the change of mindset of the Chinese people, which, as Xi said in his speech at the 19th CPC National Congress in October, has "changed, from passivity to taking the initiative", have given China's leaders a clearer picture of national conditions, and greater understanding of people's changed aspirations now that most Chinese are living "decent, even comfortable lives".

"Not only have their material and cultural needs grown; their demands for democracy, rule of law, fairness and justice, security, and a better environment are increasing," Xi noted in his speech.

The country has entered a new era in which the reforms that are needed are deep-water ones aimed at meeting those changed needs and addressing the structural imbalances that impede further development. The view in the West that reform and opening-up have stalled is simply because the West is pushing a different economic and political reform agenda.

For Xi and the Party, the planned reforms serve the objectives laid out in his speech, and their ultimate aim is to enhance the Party's leadership so it can fulfill its historical mission of ensuring better lives for the Chinese people and making the Chinese nation "a proud and active member of the community of nations".

With those aims in mind, China has come too far to close the door now. The 19th CPC National Congress was the first one to emphasize how integrated the country is in the global framework and how close China has moved to center stage in world affairs, where, as Xi has said: "It has something to say."

To roll back reforms would be to undo the "great achievement of development". However, that does not mean it is simple task. New courses of action present uncertainties, so prudence and risk calculations are required, as demonstrated by reforms being piloted first.

The reforms that are now underway or are in the pipeline are no longer serving to deliver material gains but rather a recognition that is no longer enough. Looking back 40 years from now, the coming reforms may have propelled changes transforming China, and the world, to a similar degree as those over the past four decades.