President Xi's Visionary Reforms: A Closer Look with Robert Lawrence Kuhn
Renowned China expert Robert Lawrence Kuhn has shed light on President Xi Jinping's leadership and commitment to reform, emphasizing the transformative impact on China's political and economic landscape. Drawing from his extensive experience and personal interactions with President Xi, Kuhn offers unique insights into the driving forces behind China's modernization efforts.
Kuhn, who has been visiting China since 1989 and has made over 150 trips to the country, first met President Xi in 2005 when Xi was the Party Secretary of Zhejiang Province. Their discussions revolved around the integration of political theory with pragmatic practice, highlighting Xi's focus on adapting national policies to local conditions, improving the lives of the people, environmental protection, and strengthening culture. Xi also emphasized the importance of a realistic appraisal of China's challenges alongside its achievements.
Understanding the essence of “reform” in China is crucial. According to Kuhn, reform in the Chinese context means “improvement” rather than simply reducing government involvement or expanding the private sector. President Xi’s reforms aim to optimize both government functions and private enterprise. Significant initiatives include streamlining government bureaucracy by consolidating ministries, transferring local court management to provincial governments, restructuring the healthcare system, and implementing a relentless anti-corruption campaign within the Communist Party of China (CPC).
One of President Xi’s foundational political theories is the “Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy,” introduced in 2014, which encompasses comprehensively deepening reform, promoting law-based governance, and enforcing strict Party self-governance. Following this, the “New Concepts of Development” were introduced in 2015, focusing on innovation, coordination, green development, openness, and sharing. Notably, innovation was prioritized as the driving force for “high-quality development” through “new quality productive forces.”
President Xi’s commitment to reform is evident in his leadership of more than 72 high-level reform-focused meetings since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012. These meetings have reviewed and approved over 600 reform documents and guided the issuance of more than 3,000 reform plans, embodying what Kuhn refers to as the “Drumbeat for Reform.”
At the fifth meeting of the 20th Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform in June, President Xi reviewed and approved a series of reform documents related to modern enterprise systems, income guarantee mechanisms for grain farmers, and building a globally competitive open environment for scientific and technological innovation. In April, he emphasized that “comprehensively deepening reform should be regarded as the fundamental driving force for promoting Chinese modernization.”
Kuhn also highlights President Xi’s focus on poverty alleviation and common prosperity. Xi’s assertion that he has “spent more energy on poverty alleviation than on anything else” underscores this commitment. Significant reforms include raising the individual income tax threshold in 2018, which reduced the tax burden for a substantial portion of urban workers, thereby addressing income inequality and promoting common prosperity.
Looking ahead, President Xi is expected to continue emphasizing science and technology, and indigenous innovation, as central pillars of China’s reform and modernization efforts. Kuhn believes that these areas will remain at the forefront of China’s agenda to achieve high-quality development.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
