Daily Times

It has been four decades since China decided to adopt the policy of ‘reform and opening up’ in 1978. Although China is one of the most ancient civilizations and has a rich history of culture, development and traditions. The inventions of paper, the compass for navigation, typesetting and gunpowder are but some of its achievements. China was occupied by imperialist powers but fought its way to independence and freedom, throwing away the yoke of slavery on 1st October 1949. Its woes were not over yet, the country comprising a population of 550 million was hungry and impoverished but international powers, instead of coming to its rescue, rubbed salt in the wound by recognizing the government of the Kuomintang, which had been defeated and forced to retreat to the tiny island of Taiwan as the Republic of China. The teeming millions of Chinese from Mainland China were ignored and deprived of access to western technology, development and even trade. For 22 years, the People’s Republic China (PRC) was kept devoid of an identity and even its rightful place as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Even after attaining its rightful position in the comity of nations, with its population now over 900 million, PRC was under developed despite the best efforts of the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by Chairman Mao Zedong, China had a struggling economy. After the demise of Chairman Mao in 1976, following Hua Guofeng, in 1978, paramount leader Deng Xiaoping took the reins of control. At the third plenary session of the Communist Party’s 11th Central Committee on December 18, 1978, Deng Xiaoping proposed a singular change to Chinese economy. By then the Chinese population had expanded to one billion people who were exhilarated by Deng Xiaoping’s proposed economic reforms. The plan reversed decades of political turmoil, famine and poverty. During that pivotal meeting exactly 40 years ago the CPC decided to steer the country’s path off communism by starting the experimental integration of market elements into its centrally planned economy, or “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics”.

While economic Tsunamis hit the Occident, prudent planning permitted PRC to not only steer a steady course but be a major stabilizer and a driving force for the world economy. It has managed to contribute over 30 percent of global growth in recent years and make significant contribution to mitigating the influence of the Asian financial crisis and the global financial crisis

The transformative “reform and opening up” policy set China on the course for nationwide economic reforms and fundamentally changed people’s lives across the country.  Deng and the leadership decided to allow private business, but these reforms were in measured steps. Chinese citizens initially still had to use meat, rice and oil coupons to buy daily necessities. Coupons were needed to buy virtually everything from food, clothes and bikes to watches and sewing machines. Gradually, more reform and opening up resulted as industry and trade developed, China started to abandon the use of coupons. To control the population, one-child policy was adopted, which was finally abolished in 2016.

Over the last four decades, profound changes have taken place and remarkable achievements have been made in China. From 1978 to 2017, China’s GDP increased to 12 trillion U.S. dollars from 175 billion, with an average annual economic growth of 9.5 percent and the size of China’s economy increased by 35 times. China’s GDP per capita reached 8,640 U.S. dollars from 156 U.S. dollars. The percentage of the China’s GDP in the world economy has risen from 1.8 percent to 15 percent. Both China’s urban per capita disposable income and rural per capita net income increased by over 100 times. Primary medical insurance and old-age insurance have covered 1.35 billion and 900 million of population respectively in 2017. China’s education has leaped from relative backwardness to the upper level of the world. Free compulsory education has been implemented in urban and rural areas. The gross enrollment ratio of secondary and higher education has reached 88.3 percent and 45.7 percent respectively. More than 700 million Chinese have been lifted out of poverty, accounting for over 70 percent of global poverty reduction during that period, while poverty is to be eradicated totally by 2020.

While economic Tsunamis hit the Occident, prudent planning permitted PRC to not only steer a steady course but be a major stabilizer and a driving force for the world economy. It has managed to contribute over 30 percent of global growth in recent years and make significant contribution to mitigating the influence of the Asian financial crisis and the global financial crisis. Resultantly China is now the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries. Over the past four decades, China’s imports have increased 170-fold, reaching 1.85 trillion U.S. dollars last year, supporting tens of millions of jobs worldwide. Chinese companies have actively invested aboard, which set up 372,000 businesses in 190 countries and regions, with a total investment of 1.36 trillion U.S. dollars. Mega projects like the Belt and Road Initiative spell shared prosperity for the more than seventy nations that have joined this mega project. Leaders succeeding Deng have contributed their own course corrections, making Chinese adaptive to change and novel developments.

The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host, who has authored six books on current affairs, including three on China

Published in Daily Times, December 29^th 2018.