China's reform saga gets world audience

David Ben Kay, former general counsel of Microsoft China, recalls that when he first visited China in 1980, people bought daily necessities with coupons due to scanty supplies in the planned economy.

"There were only few shops in Beijing selling imported food, which could be purchased only using 'foreign exchange certificates'," he said.

The certificate became obsolete in 1995, three years after China officially decided to build a market economy. In 2001, China joined the WTO and was embraced by global market. Now imported food can be easily bought in supermarkets or online.

"Now looking back, I find China's development full of surprises," said Kay, who now runs a company in China offering advice to local and foreign start-ups. Boasting entrepreneurship and innovation, many new companies have footholds in the expanding Chinese market.

"The whole world enjoys 'made-in-China'. Chinese products are now everywhere in Indian households, from clothes to light bulbs. Even the statues in many Indian temples are carved by Chinese," Sinha said.

Sinha is referring to China's strong exports, which have delivered decades of growth but the target of reform now is domestic consumption rather than waning global demand.

Sinha sees greater possibilities for India in this trend. "China used to enjoy a large trade surplus with India by importing ores and exporting industrial products. We are glad to see China is restructuring its economy with more emphasis on finance and digital sectors."

He is now the deputy director of Sino-India Entrepreneurship Development Center, an institute in China's Yunnan Province that promotes cooperation between companies and industries of the two countries.

"There are many fields where we can cooperate. China can invest in India's infrastructure and food processing, while India's quality drugs and financial service are hoping to enter the Chinese market," he said. LOOKING EAST

In the eyes of Sinha, another achievement is setting up a paradigm for other developing countries.

"China's successful reform offers a new option for the world, which used to hold the European and American model as the only feasible way of development," Sinha said.

The latest CPC reform guidelines also caught the attention of Wladimir Pomar, a Brazilian ex-politician who has observed China's "socialist market economy" for years.

"China's changing attitude toward the market, from suppression to liberation to reliance, is interesting and shows resolution in pushing for marketization," said the former senior official of Brazil's left-wing Workers' Party (PT).

"This's  inspiring for emerging economies like Brazil and many other developing countries," the 77-year-old told Xinhua.

A founder of the PT, Brazil's current ruling party, Pomar remembers China's reform once aroused speculation among Brazilian lefties that the country had embarked on a capitalist road.

The confusion drove Pomar to visit China in 1981, and in 1987 he published his first book on China: "The Chinese Enigma: Capitalism or Socialism," in which he predicted bright prospects for a "socialist China."

"I predicted China would make big progress in productivity, which would then lead to development in the social and cultural spheres," Pomar said. Though his predictions were not widely accepted at the time, he said 80 percent of them have been realized now.

"China shows a non-capitalist way of development," Pomar said, adding that the Chinese experience has provided guidance for many countries eager for industrialization.