Blueprint for reform

The annual Central Conference on Economic Work is meant for tune- and agenda-setting, rather than for technicalities. Judging by the priorities set for 2013, most policies identified a year ago will be continued, with the new proposal to "actively and steadily" press ahead with urbanization in a "proper" manner.

This is a matter of course, essentially because of the truth that our economic fundamentals remain basically unchanged.

The pledge to deepen reforms in the economic system in an all-round manner and unswervingly expand opening-up are not new. Nor is the proposal to stabilize growth, transform the economic mode and adjust structure. Not even the nod to "crossing the river by feeling the stones", a motto of Chinese reformers for more than 30 years.

What truly set this meeting apart from previous ones, however, resides on a higher, strategic plan, in its approach to reform: In the idea of carrying out in-depth research on the "top-level design and overall planning" for comprehensively deepening reforms in the system, and putting forward, "in explicit terms", the "overall scheme, roadmap, and timetable" for reforms.

The mention of "top-level design and overall planning" first appeared in the Party's proposals for the country's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) last year. The latest appeal for a clear master design and overarching scheme for reforms goes one step forward from there.

For a good part of the past three decades, reformers have been "crossing the river by feeling the stones", and they may have to continue doing that in the future in one way or another, given the unprecedented nature of their undertakings.

Yet, as many have observed, we are now at a stage when the simple vow of loyalty to reform alone is too hollow to be meaningful. Reforms can no longer proceed well without a sensible master plan.

But such a roadmap cannot go around the entanglement of vested interests, which are considered the toughest challenge facing present-day reformers. The task of untangling these entails the "greater political courage and wisdom" the conference appealed for. By taking on such a daunting challenge, top political leader Xi Jinping and his colleagues have shown the resolve necessary for reviving reforms.

For that, we wish them bon voyage.

(China Daily 12/18/2012 page8)