More than 60 renowned think tank experts from all over
the world gathered in Beijing on Sept. 3-5 for
the Party and the World Dialogue 2014, the first of its kind in China.
The Dialogue, with a theme of "China's New Reforms: The Role of the Party”, was
sponsored by the China
Center for Contemporary
World Studies (CCCWS) and the China Foundation for Peace and Development.
The scholars, from various backgrounds, held in-depth
discussions at three panel discussions on the way the Communist Party of China
(CPC) is steering reforms in China
and touched on a wide range of challenges and common concerns.
The three-day event presented foreign participants a
general picture of China through face-to-face dialogues with high-ranking
Chinese officials, including Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao, Wang Jiarui, Vice-Chairman
of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative
Conference, Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central
Committee and Honorary Council President of CCCWS, and other Chinese policy
makers and scholars.
The participants visited the Commission for Discipline
Inspection of the CPC Central Committee, China’s anti-corruption watchdog,
which has won praise both at home and abroad for its iron fist clampdown on
“tigers and flies” (high- and low-level corrupt officials).
In addition, a field trip to East China’s Shandong Province
offered foreign participants a first-hand glimpse of China’s
development, where they attended a salon discussing the role of traditional
culture in China’s
reform. They also interacted with local officials, enterprises and rural
families in Qufu, the birth place of Confucius, and Qingdao,
a silhouette of modern China
and its globalization.
China has been at
the focus of the world's attention for its miraculous 35 years of economic
growth and its current comprehensive reform deepening and opening up.
In
a meeting with these foreign think tanks experts on Sept. 4, Chinese Vice
President Li Yuanchao invited them to learn more about China's development and
changes through field visits, to exchange views with the Chinese side and share
the history and achievements of China's reform and opening-up under the
leadership of the CPC. Li said he hoped the experts would provide advice and
suggestions for China’s
reform and development.
While addressing the opening ceremony of the Dialogue, Minister Wang Jiarui also said the CPC is
willing and ready to share its information with the outside world as an authentic
source and learn from others, as the Party reviews and learns from its past to
overcome challenges and helps its neighbors understand China.
The organization of the CPC
To understand China’s reform and changes, one
needs to understand the CPC’s machinery. How does the CPC, as the single ruling
Party, run the world’s most populous country? How does it make its policies and
national plans? These questions are something of a mystery and arouse curiosity
in the outside world, and as a result, there have often been doubts and
misunderstandings.
The CPC has an established mechanism for democratic
policy making, which features preliminary research and investigation, feedback
from the top down and from the grass roots, and deliberations and revisions
before finalizing policy documents according to the Party Constitution.
Chinese think tank experts shared insights about policy
making process with participants at the Dialogue.
Mr. Li Junru, former Vice President of the Central Party
School of the CPC Central Committee,
took as an example the recent Decision on Some Major Issues Concerning
Comprehensively Deepening Reform adopted at the Third Plenary Session of
the 18th CPC Central Committee in November 2013, which set the pace for China’s
next 10 years of development.
This Decision was the result of a painstaking process of soliciting
wide-ranging opinions from different groups across the country, drafting and
redrafting, Li said.
Mr. Zhang Weiwei, Director of the Research
Center of the Chinese Development Model
at Fudan University,
said China’s
remarkable success has depended to a large extent on the Party’s democratic
centralism. As long as a policy is in the interest of the majority of the
public, China’s
ruling Party will push it ahead despite opposition from special interest
groups.
The CPC top leadership is focusing on the new reform to
adhere to and improve the system of democratic centralism, and better the
intra-Party democratic system.
Mr. Zheng Xingli, former Deputy Director of the Policy
Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, said that experience has shown
that the CPC doesn’t turn away from its problems and mistakes and it is always
striving to improve itself and better serve the people.
Varied opinions on China’s reform and global bearing
2014 is the first year of China’s comprehensive reform
deepening. During the three-day Dialogue, the scholars discussed the way the
CPC is leading reform and its global influence during panel discussions.
While recognizing the positive side of China’s reform, the foreign
participants talked
about challenges and problems the country has encountered and will face on its
way of reform, which include lack of innovation, social
inequality, growing wealth gap and environmental deterioration.
They warned that China will encounter huge obstacles
in its development if these problems are not properly handled. Some said the
Chinese economy has already shown signs of stagnation due to insufficient
investment on research and development.
These issues perplex not only China
but also the rest of the world, said Flemming Christiansen, Professor at the
Sociological Institute and Institute
of East Asian Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He added that China
is not able to solve some issues alone like climate change and poverty
reduction, as it demands global coordination and efforts.
Foreign
delegates said China’s
current reform is much different from the past 35 years. The previous reform
won the whole nation’s support as the reform and opening up policy was beneficial
to everyone. Yet this new round of deepening reform might offend special
interest groups. It is a challenge for China’s ruling Party to coordinate
different interest groups and strike a balance between rapid development and
social stability in the reform.
Many
other countries have been focusing on China to see how its ruling Party
performs and provides a reference, as the Party has demonstrated to the world
its vitality and success in governing the world’s most populous country into a
miracle within such a short period.
Over
the past 35 years, the CPC has proved that its political system is valid and
dynamic, and it will continue to be a guarantee for China’s
future reform and development, said Martin Jacques, Senior Fellow at the
Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge.
Delegates
suggested that there should be wider participation of
society in the reform, especially from the grass roots.
The people of all the countries that are undergoing
reform, especially the newly emerging middle class, are pinning higher
expectations on the ruling Party and government for improved social equality
and equal access to services, they said.
Kerry Brown, Professor of Chinese Politics at the University of Sydney
in Australia, said China’s
reform structure and process are complicated. Therefore "consultation is
very important," Kerry said, as society, especially the middle class, is
expecting more improved services.
Most participants agreed that China's reform, especially its new
round of deepening reform, is an opportunity for the world.
China’s new round
of reform will not only create a large number of jobs but also boost imports
from other countries, said Zhang Yansheng, Secretary-General of Academic
Committee of China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
According to World of Work Report 2014 released by
International Labor Organization, in the future around 40 million more jobs
will be created worldwide every year. Based on an estimate that the Chinese
economy will continue to grow at 7 percent per year in the medium term, China
will create 77 million jobs for the global labor market from 2014 to 2020. China’s
“going global” strategy will also provide host countries with capital and
industry transfers and the mixed ownership economy will create more space for
foreign investment, Zhang added.
In the wake of China’s successful reform, the
country is expected to play a more important role in global issues like
constructing a new global financial order to benefit developing countries, as
well as fighting against terrorism, climate change and corruption.
As for China’s
complicated reform structure and process, China’s foreign policy is unclear
to the outside world as well, delegates said. The country needs to consult with
and to explain to the outside world its policies of peaceful development to
avoid suspicions and misconceptions especially among its neighbors, the foreign
experts said.
More exchanges and dialogue urged
Foreign participants said the Chinese ruling Party is
becoming more and more open to the outside world, especially to outside
criticism, as Chinese officials are beginning to take the initiative to
communicate with the outside world, though sometimes they lack experience.
This dialogue showed the CPC’s confidence, sincerity and
determination in its future reform and in dealing with the outside world.
A lack of transparency can increase misunderstanding. The
CPC, to many people in the world, still remains mysterious. China should communicate more with
the outside world, suggested the foreign guests at the Dialogue.
“There is no one in the world who can say he or she
really knows China,” said
Wang Shaoguang, a professor at the Department of Government and Public
Administration at the Chinese University of Hong Kong
who also attended the Dialogue. “The size of China’s territory, population and
unbalanced development contribute to its complexity.”
Each country has its own characteristics and development
modes, Wang said. “We should respect and learn from each other. As the late
preeminent anthropologist Fei Xiaotong advocated: ‘The world would be a
harmonious place if people appreciate their own beauty and that of others, and
work together to create beauty in the world.’”
"The
Party and the World Dialogue 2014" opening ceremony.
Chinese
Vice President Li Yuanchao meets with foreign scholars.
“Traditional
Culture and China’s Reform”
Salon is held in Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius, in East China's Shandong Province.
“Traditional
Culture and China’s Reform”
Salon is held in Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius, in East China's Shandong Province.
The
scholars visit different farmers’ households in groups to exchange views and
have dinner.
