An adviser's insights on the road ahead

Chi Fulin says he is impressed by economic developments, measures to reduce red tape and the fight against corruption. [Photo / China Daily]

A meeting in Beijing next month is likely to be historic, think tank head says

"To get rich is glorious" and "Let some people get rich first", China's late leader Deng Xiaoping said 35 years ago when the country began to abandon its planned economy and adopt market-oriented reform and opening up.

Deng, the architect of the country's reform agenda, said the ultimate goal, after a generation of reform, was "shared affluence" throughout the country.

Chi Fulin, a top Chinese political adviser, says it is vital that the shared affluence Deng talked of continues to be a focus at every stage of the country's reform.

"China's leadership now really needs to come up with an action plan for the people to share the country's wealth and affluence," says Chi, president of the China Institute for Reform and Development.

His remarks come as the Third Plenum of the Chinese Communist Party's 18th Central Committee approaches next month.

With a widening gap in China between rich and poor, Chi says: "What people want is a start to a reform agenda for the coming decade."

Chi, one of the country's most well-known advocates of reform, says that putting the country on a more market-oriented path, one that is intertwined with global economics, should be at the top of the plenum's to-do list, which is now being formulated.

"I believe we can expect a lot from the plenum and that the policy portfolio will be historic," Chi says.

"That's mainly because the strategies that have been adopted are likely to transform China from an upper middle-income country into a high-income one over the coming decade."

China's gross national income was $5,800 (4,020 euros) per person last year, the World Bank says. That figure is likely to double in the coming decade even if China maintains only medium-paced economic growth, Chi says.

In a telephone interview with China Daily, Chi says: "The upcoming reform and development stories of China are the same magic as those in the past 35 years, which have seen this country developing from a low-income one to a middle-income one."

Chi, born in 1951, worked as researcher in the reform policy research taskforce of the CPC Central Committee in the 1980s. He later went to Hainan and took charge of the province's policy research, which resulted in the country's biggest special economic zone.

At the beginning of the 1990s, Chi left his government job and set up a think tank that does research on reform and economic transition.

"Of course, our top mission remains very clear: we aim to have our reform proposals heard by Beijing," he says.

Having a think tank on an island about three hours by air from Beijing is useful in "helping people think and create new ideas", he says.

But to persuade government departments to accept the institute's research results, Chi says he has got used to flying to Beijing on average at least once a fortnight.

Chi is a prolific writer and editor on reform. Since the institute was founded in 1991, more than 200 books on reform-related topics have been published, and it has organized about 150 seminars and conferences to promote the reform process. In recent years it has focused on how emerging economies can share development experiences.

Chi's achievements and contribution have been recognized at the highest levels, and he has served two five-year terms as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's highest political advisory body.

This year, he says, he has chaired eight seminars on reform in China. In the coming weeks, as the Third Plenum draws near, Chi will chair a seminar and an international conference on reform and economic transition, he says.

"This year my stay in Beijing is longer than usual because we have taken it as a golden opportunity to advocate China's reform focusing on equality, justice and sustainability."

For him, it is also time to take stock of the lessons learned from reform. With this in mind, the institute has published a collection titled Panorama of Reform and Opening Up in China (1978-2012).

"We regard this year as a fresh and historic beginning," he says.

Much to his delight, China's leaders have lived up to people's expectations on reform and development, he says, and a consensus has been reached at the highest echelons that reform must continue.

Chi says he bases this conclusion on the new visions, strategies and actions that President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have talked of and demonstrated since they took power early this year.