China Needs a New Commitment to Economic Reform
Boldness served China well 40 years ago — a lesson policy makers would be wise to remember this week.
What kind of revolutionary does he intend to be?
Photographer: Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images
Forty years ago, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping launched the most dramatic economic transformation in history by encouraging his countrymen to “emancipate” their minds and “seek truth from facts.” The reforms that followed — he called it socialism with Chinese characteristics — were stunning in their impact. China’s GDP today is more than 80 times bigger than it was at the end of 1978.
If Chinese leaders want to extend that astonishing record of achievement, they’ll need to demonstrate the same kind of courage and far-sightedness. The country’s key officials meet this week to set economic policy for the next year. They need to renew Deng’s commitment to truth from facts, and to bold, market-based reforms.