mandag 22. april 2019

China counts the costs of its lurch from market reform to ‘Made in China 2025’


The year 2013 was a critical year in China’s development. At the Central Committee third plenum in November, President Xi Jinping’s new administration promised to dramatically
marketiseChina’s economy. However, in August that year, the Chinese Academy of Engineering had begun research on an alternative model, “ Made in China 2025”. The fact that this industrial plan has superseded the 2013 reform programme has enormous implications for China and its relations with the world. 

At the 14th party congress of 1992, China announced the establishment of a
socialist market economy, where the market would form the basis of the economy and the public sector would play a decisive role. Every congress thereafter reconfirmed that stance. But in 2013, perhaps prodded by a joint report by the World Bank and China’s Development Research Centre of the State Council, the third plenum notes reversed those positions, giving the market the “decisive role” in the economy.