Prominent experts get specific . . .
Amid the U.S.-China trade war and a slowing Chinese economy, several academics in China have gotten more vocal on the need for reform. In an article published on Chinese social media, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Cai Fang, said economic reforms are the ultimate way to counter U.S. unilateralism. He recommended loosening the residential registration policy (hukou) to allow for more labour mobility and implied that China should stop giving big advantages to state owned enterprises. Yu Yongding, a former advisor to China’s Central Bank, urged the government to join the CP-TPP trade agreement (to which Canada is a party), arguing that doing so would force Beijing to implement much needed economic reforms.
And some political reforms . . .
Similarly, Professor Wang Yizhou from Peking University encouraged the government to be more open and receptive to input from NGOs, think tanks, and ideas expressed on the Internet. Such measures, he argued, could ease hostility towards China in the international arena.
Shared frustration . . .
Despite early hopes that Chinese president Xi Jinping would introduce some reforms, efforts have fallen well short of expectations. Meanwhile, U.S. experts on China are also expressing frustration with their government’s China policy. One hundred American academics and policy advisers published an open letter to President Donald Trump asserting that China should not be seen as the U.S.’s enemy. In both China and the U.S., such pleas for change could be a sign that experts feel they are not being listened to by those in power, and that public pronouncements are their only recourse for affecting change.
READ MORE
- South China Morning Post: China’s academics join calls for reform and opening up as US trade war pressure looks set to continue
- The Washington Post: China is not the enemy
Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University: Record of Wang Yizhou’s lecture at Renmin University
Chinese academics speak up on reforms
Prominent experts get specific . . .
Amid the U.S.-China trade war and a slowing Chinese economy, several academics in China have gotten more vocal on the need for reform. In an article published on Chinese social media, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Cai Fang, said economic reforms are the ultimate way to counter U.S. unilateralism. He recommended loosening the residential registration policy (hukou) to allow for more labour mobility and implied that China should stop giving big advantages to state owned enterprises. Yu Yongding, a former advisor to China’s Central Bank, urged the government to join the CP-TPP trade agreement (to which Canada is a party), arguing that doing so would force Beijing to implement much needed economic reforms.
And some political reforms . . .
Similarly, Professor Wang Yizhou from Peking University encouraged the government to be more open and receptive to input from NGOs, think tanks, and ideas expressed on the Internet. Such measures, he argued, could ease hostility towards China in the international arena.
Shared frustration . . .
Despite early hopes that Chinese president Xi Jinping would introduce some reforms, efforts have fallen well short of expectations. Meanwhile, U.S. experts on China are also expressing frustration with their government’s China policy. One hundred American academics and policy advisers published an open letter to President Donald Trump asserting that China should not be seen as the U.S.’s enemy. In both China and the U.S., such pleas for change could be a sign that experts feel they are not being listened to by those in power, and that public pronouncements are their only recourse for affecting change.
READ MORE
- South China Morning Post: China’s academics join calls for reform and opening up as US trade war pressure looks set to continue
- The Washington Post: China is not the enemy
Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University: Record of Wang Yizhou’s lecture at Renmin University
