Chinese Development and the World

An editorial in the China Daily by Jiang Yong on 23 October entitled China is on the right path to development, discusses the shift in economic power from Europe and North America to Asia and the developing world. There is no doubt that this trend is happening as manufacturing and service industries continue to grow across some developing nations. As a leading nation in this growth and an emerging economic model for developing nations, Jiang Yong also discusses the calls for China to assume more responsibility in global economic affairs. Jiang Yong does a reasonable job of analyzing these calls as either subjective or objective, stressing that China should shoulder some responsibilities but not at the cost of current domestic polices. However, Jiang Yong neglects to mention the importance of China as not only a model of economic development, but also of human development. As Chinese aid to Africa and Asia increases so does China’s responsibility to demonstrate equitable human development policies.

China recently celebrated 15 years of developmental cooperation with Israel through its MASHAV projects and on 28 October Jordan’s King Abdullah praised China’s model of development in an interview with Xinhua. These two events indicate that China is in a position to work with a wide variety of nations. Therefore if economic power is shifting and aid is set to shift from traditional donors to emerging developing nations, then China is in a powerful position to model equitable domestic human development polices. The reassessment of on-going interventions such as the Great West Development to serve the needs of China’s poorest citizens would go some way to beginning China’s global responsibility in human development.

Hu Jintao's Keynote Speech to the 17th National Congress

Hu Jintao's recent speech to the 17th National Congress on 15th October caught my attention because of his tacit acknowledgement of social and economic inequity in China.

China’s overall economic development is well documented. Since the inception of the reform period, the growth of China’s gross domestic product has averaged 9.4 percent according to the UNDP. This trend shows little sign of slowing as China’s economy has grown an average of 10 percent over the past three years. China’s astonishing economic development has been accompanied by improvements in human development, particularly in public health and education. Life expectancy in China and the rate of primary school enrolment now match the levels of middle-income countries. In 2003, China’s Human Development Index ranking was a respectable 85th out of 177 countries.

All of these documented advances generate a picture of robust development in China supplemented by increased political participation. Development in China appears wideranging,

progressively realising political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights in order to create a modern and influential nation with a ‘xiaokang’ society. However, more granular analyses show development in China to be unequal and that many Chinese citizens live with little meaningful political participation. The China Human Development Report 2005 addresses the issue of inequitable development in China. The report details serious imbalances in rates of development between urban and rural, men and women, among varying ethnic minorities and in different regions of the country. Regional inequality is especially pronounced; the UNDP relates that "[p]er capita GDP is as high as US$ 4,522 a year in developed provinces and as low as US$ 350 a year in underdeveloped ones".

Hu Jintao's acknowledgement of this serious imbalance to China's development holds out some hope to those people for whom the economic miracle did not touch. However, achieving the goal of a "moderately prosperous society", by 2020 needs to have the assistance of civil society and especially the cooperation of ethnic minorities. It will be interesting to see if political participation will accompany Hu's promise to China's poor.

Introduction

The change that has happened in China in my lifetime alone is staggering. Beijing, which I first visited as a student at Beijing Foreign Studies University in the aftermath of Tiananmen, is a city in the grip of construction. Beijing is preparing itself for the Olympic Games in 2008, a display of the remarkable economic journey taken by China since the inception of the reform era in the early eighties. However, vast inequalities exist in China. While huge numbers of people are enjoying the benefits of economic reform, people in rural areas, women, and ethnic minorities are being marginalized.

This blog is a resource for anyone interested in the political, economic, and social development of China. News and opinion on the blog regarding China’s development is intended to inform and provoke thought in those who visit. I was moved to create this blog after completing my dissertation on rights-based approaches to development in China. While researching that work, I found few resources being produced by practitioners or academics detailing their opinions on recent events in an accessible manner. I hope that I will be able to begin to fill that gap. In addition, inspiration for this blog was drawn from China Development Brief, which is an excellent resource for people interested in the social development of China. Its recent troubles with the Chinese authorities and imminent closure will be a loss to those wanting to stay in touch with the development of civil society in China. This blog is a modest attempt to continue some of China Development Brief’s work.