After three decades of impressive economic growth -even after last year increasing woes and fears of a possible over heating- China seems to move further on its own path towards development (what is becoming to be known as the Beijing Consensus). Recently, a lot has been said about the passing of a new law that gives individuals the same legal protection for their property as the state. It might be a natural consequence of the flourishing of a wealthy bourgeois concerned by its (personal) interests and their descendants'.Besides that interesting news, what seemed more shocking in the recent People's National Congress was Wen Jiabao's opening speech, pledging for a new society, a "harmonious" one, as he has named it. It is, somehow, a new social contract (I would say pact, as it is not formally written, even we could talk about "social imposition" as there isn't any type of political accountability) by which social issues are put back in the core of the national political agenda, lately too worried about trade openness and economic growth.
This new society will have to bring back aspects like: social justice, redistribution or environmental sustainability. The increasing inequality (between the cities and the rural areas) as well as the increasing depletion of the environmental capital seems to drive this social turn.
There are two things that really attratcs my attention. The first one is related to how this giant is learning from the past and, although there still persist enormous problems in the country (the most important one are the absence of civil and political rights and increasing social and economic inequality which is feeding social unrest) that will certainly impede to spread growth in a sustainable and equitable way, they realise that sparkling economic growth needs of different requirements than sustaining economic growth. The strategies, that is, economic policies to achieve them, do not need to be the same.Rodrik (it has to be him) wrote about these same issues.
The second one relates to the important gap that exists between what the the chinese leaders plan to do at home, and what their economic anxieties (mainly energetic ones) suppose in developing countries, and mainly Africa. It seems pretty contradictory to buy oil from Sudan, whereas at home you realise how harm economic growth can make when its profits are not adequately shared. (well, I guess this is international political economy!).
This interesting document: China's interest and activity in Africa's construction and infrastructure sectors analyses the implications of this new approach to the missing continent.
Sometimes I ask myself: In the near future... will we find the answer to this period of Chinese economic bonanza in the presence of a benevolent dictator?
Related: a very close friend from Bilbao is currently living in China, he is a photographer. You might have a look at his pics.
3 comments:
How real is the "harmonious" commitment? How much money is going to spend on it? The encrease in military spending is bigger than the total amount summited to the program.
By the way, harmony can be understood as the abscence of explicit conflict (that's a very confucian way), so repression, censorship, etc. can also be part of it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6453035.stm
The leftists had been losing power for decades in China and now the PNC just passed the new propierty law and at the same time is trying to focus the debate in some socialists (not comunist) social programs that are not going to change much anything. At least in a short period of time.
I do agree with you... the enforcement, given the lack of an appropriate judicial system is something one should include in the analysis.
I was impressed by the bbc news...
nos vemos!
i.
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