Reform à La Chinoise

Jan 15-2019   

Pragmatism, championed by Deng Xiaoping, was the most important reason behind the success of China’s reform and opening up, said NSD Dean and Prof. Yao Yang at a seminar late last year. The other two major reasons were local experiments and open discussions. Deng Xiaoping showed his wisdom by delineating an overall direction for reform and advocating the method of “crossing the river by feeling the stones”. He refrained from making hasty judgment on new initiatives such as Special Economic Zones, which proved to be big success later on and blaze a trail regionally and nationally. Local governments were provided with the space for experiments thanks to devolution of power. In his historic Southern tour, Deng Xiaoping encouraged He Xiangjian, boss of Midea Group (home appliance maker), to be bolder. That set off the company’s restructuring from a collectively owned firm to a Hong Kong-listed one, and later a truly private enterprise listed on Chinese stock market. High-quality open discussions, the third reason, paved the way for approaching truth and achieving consensus. In this regard, NSD was active and impactful, said Prof. Yao. He cited NSD’s deep involvement in the telecom reform in the 1990s and the discussions about private enterprises in 2018. “It’s important to write reports for the government; it’s equally or even more important to participate in open discussions that lead to the formulation of tried-and-true reform plans,” said Prof. Yao.