MCLC: "people's proposals" on reform (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: james keefer (jamesrk at shaw.ca)
Subject: "people's proposals" on reform (1)
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I just happen to have read through this report yesterday evening, and it
ties into the new posting on the types of reforms needed in China to
maintain long term economic and social stability. This link opens to a
summary of a much longer report, which can be read in full by anyone who's
interested.

This is indeed an interesting time in China--changing of the guard, a
subtle shift in the economic balance between the US and China,
redeployment of US military assets back into the Pacific theatre of
operations, etc.. I hope this posting stimulates further discussion.

James 

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Source: National Bureau of Asian Research (2/28/12):
http://www.nbr.org/research/activity.aspx?id=215

Insights on the "China 2030" Report
By Mark Frazier, University of Oklahoma

The question on everyone¹s mind after the release of the World Bank¹s
report on China 2030: Building a Modern, Harmonious, and Creative
High-Income Society
<http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/2012/02/27/china-2030-executive-summary>
is how the bold proposals for structural reforms in industrial, financial,
fiscal, and social policies can be achieved given the political facts of
life and obstacles posed by powerful defenders of the status quo.

There is little doubt that some in the Chinese leadership and their
advisers from the Development Research Center (which co-authored the
report with the World Bank) believe that current conditions are
unsustainable, and indeed threatening, if not addressed with deeper
reforms. What the study¹s authors cannot say, since political advice is
outside their charter, is that the proposed reforms stand little chance of
succeeding without substantive political and institutional reforms. Bold
leadership and commitment to implementation at the top are ineffective
without other essential ingredients to pursue such an ambitious reform
agenda. These include more transparency and public access to official
documents and information, as well as greater participation by various
groups (associations, NGOs, etc.) in the policy process at local levels

A curious and recurring phrase in the report that hints at the latter is
³equality of opportunity.² Some might read this as an insertion of a
phrase used by American conservatives into the Chinese context, but the
report authors use it differently. They call for equal access to public
services by the ³outsiders² of China¹s political economy: rural
populations, migrant workers, private firms, and others. In a section on
social policy, ³equality of opportunity² refers to giving outsiders the
ability to gain access to public education, basic health insurance,
pensions, and other social programs, regardless of their residency status
(hukou).

Similarly, private entrepreneurs should have access to credit on equal
footing with state-owned enterprises. But more importantly, the phrase
connotes public participation in the design and delivery, and the
oversight, of basic public services. This is an important suggestion for
participation, oversight, and accountability by citizens and civil society
organizations. In short, the authors invoke greater participation by the
public as a means to fulfilling the ambitious reorientation of China¹s
development strategy.

Yet even if grassroots participation becomes a way of monitoring local
officialdom and promoting reforms to social services and development, many
of the reforms called for in ³China 2030² would require a political
realignment within the Chinese Communist Party that no one foresees
happening any time soon. The World Bank and other international
organizations offer a great service when they provide officials within the
PRC government with ideas and agenda-setting capabilities, and ³China
2030² does that. But China¹s most important and enduring reforms have come
from local experiments and initiatives that top officials decide to
popularize nationwide.


LINKS: 
On the World Bank Website:
Access the report and related resources including transcripts of World
Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick's opening remarks and media
questions and answers:
The World Bank: China <http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china>

On CNTV's English Language Service
Watch video of a discussion of the report featuring Ding Yifan,
Development Research Centre of State Council, and a western analyst:

China 2030: A high-income society
<http://english.cntv.cn/program/dialogue/20120229/103826.shtml>

In The Economist
The economics of reform: Stoking the furnace
<http://www.economist.com/node/21548972>