Zhang Jun — China’s Vision for the Next 30 Years

Taking the long view with central planning.

Achieving the lofty development goals China's leaders have set will not be easy. But with a clear development blueprint and a powerful leader whose political clout all but guarantees continued reform, the country seems to be in a strong position to sustain its unprecedented economic success in the coming decades. 

Short article for addressing such a large undertaking, but it's comprehensive. The Chinese leadership knows where it wants to go. Now it needs to continue to actualize its vision for the country. Given the Chinese population is over a billion people it's a daunting task.

The leadership is not leaving this to the vagaries of the market. Markets are to be harnessed rather than left to themselves on the assumption of spontaneous natural order arising from "free markets" acting automatically as an optimizer.

Chinese socialism is challenging capitalism, while also using some capitalist methods such as markets. It's worked quite well so far, although some capitalist countries are shouting foul as their firms have to compete with Chinese SOEs (state-owned enterprises), leading to political friction over trade.

Project Syndicate
China’s Vision for the Next 30 Years

Zhang Jun | Professor of Economics and Director of the China Center for Economic Studies at Fudan University, Shanghai