'Unique' China defies world's predictions
By Xu Binglan (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-06-21 08:32

(Continued)

China Daily: It is a very tough task to create jobs for so many farmers moving to the cities, isn't it?

Huang: It is a major issue and probably 'the' major issue for China's policy-makers. How do you create jobs in urban areas, reasonably paid jobs? Secondly, how do you provide social health and housing services? This calls for a completely different way of looking at managing cities, housing for low-income earners and changing the transportation pattern.

This needs planning and co-ordination that does not exist in China right now.

China Daily: What is your advice to your successor?

Huang: For anybody who comes to China, my first piece of advice would be 'Don't rush in and make a judgment.' You have to first understand the system, the culture and the thinking.

This is truly a unique country. There are many unique countries. But why is it important here? The reason it is unique here is because the government is so strong in taking ownership of everything it does. Ownership. By that I mean making decisions about what they want and how they want to do something.

In other countries, they are all unique. (World Bank) donors find they often determine or design the policy, the project and the investment in a way that they feel is appropriate. It may or may be appropriate for the country. Since the country does not care much, our views often dominate.

But the fact is that our view does not dominate in China because the government has very clear views about what it wants to do and takes responsibility for saying what it wants.

So you have to know who you are going to work with.

Because you know that person has got a very strong view and unless you can convince that person or agree, you are not going to achieve your goal.

This is why being unique is important here. Other countries, they are all unique every country is unique but they may not matter to our work. But what we want to do doesn't matter, because they will do what we think, what we tell them to do.

This government is a very intelligent government with a very intelligent system, but it does not mean that it does everything perfectly. There are lots of things the government did not do well. Then you have to understand why it did not do it perfectly. Why are problems neglected?

That is really difficult as sometimes China is not an easy country to understand, it is very complicated.

My second point, however, is that we as outsiders, our value can only be if we can help influence, reshape thinking and approaches so that the outcome is better than it might have been. If all we do is the same thing the government will do, we have no value.

They might have become just as efficient on their own, but by working with us, they become more efficient much faster.

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