China: the booming giant

Delano Seiveright, Guest Columnist

A population of 1.34 billion in one country is staggering and can't be easy to manage. After all, Jamaica, with its population of just 2.7 million, seems difficult enough. Yet despite its myriad of economic and social challenges, they have just about managed to keep it all together.

That's China for you. Thousands of years of history. An average of 10 per cent per annum. GDP growth over the last 30 consecutive years. The world's biggest manufacturer, the second-largest economy in the world, just recently overtaking Japan, while lining up to become the largest economy in the world in a decade, is truly extraordinary, especially when juxtaposed to what China was just over 30 years ago.

STANDARD OF LIVING

While the statistics appear impressive, the Chinese have the incredible task of raising the standard of living of its vast population, most of whom are engaged in agriculture and low-paying urban employment. GDP per capita works out at just US$4,400 and China ranks 17th in global national competitiveness ranking, according to the China's Academy of Social Sciences.

According to China's State Information Centre, earnings above the equivalent of US$6,227 per annum are middle class. In 2010, it follows then that 25 per cent of China's population are middle class, or approximately 330 million persons, a little more than the population of the United States (US) of America. By Western developed-country standards, though, China's middle class numbers less.

Journalist and China analyst Gary Schilling, in a 2008 Forbes magazine article, stated: "... China's middle and upper classes amount to about 110 million. This indicates that only eight per cent of the total 1.4 billion population are middle class in terms of having measurable discretionary purchasing power." That's the equal to the population of Mexico.

The prominent market research firm EuroMonitor International projects that China's middle class will number 700 million by 2020 if current growth rates persist. That's more than twice the population of the US. It makes for a huge market that every well-thinking country would want to tap into. By every standard, its economic power and prowess cannot be discounted and its impressive growth rates in view of major economic slowdowns in the US, the eurozone and other economies throughout the world make it a star today.

For some time now, China has been the US' biggest creditor. Renowned Harvard professor Niall Ferguson, in an August 7 Newsweek piece titled 'Debt Debate: China's View', noted, in part, that: "According to official figures, mainland China holds US$1.1 trillion in US government debt instruments. But it's an open secret that the Chinese authorities also like to buy Treasuries via intermediaries in London, Hong Kong, and elsewhere. Add the UK and Hong Kong figures and the total is closer to US$1.6 trillion about 17 per cent of the federal debt in public hands. And if you include non-governmental securities held in China's international reserves, the US debt to China rises to more than US$2 trillion."

In truth, and in fact, the economies of China and the US are tied, and both are dependent on each other to bring about sustained growth and development. After all, China's heavy reliance on export-led growth and development played a critical role in its rapid economic ascension.

UNIQUE POLITICAL SYSTEM

Economics and finance aside, it is its political system that forms the pinnacle of its growth and development. It is a system that runs contrary to the main accepted ethos of Western liberal democracy, yet it has catapulted this complex and vast land of 1.34 billion into an age of prosperity, or shengshi.

The Economist June 2011 Special Report on China, titled 'Rising Power, Anxious State', quoted China's Premier Wen Jiabao as saying in a March 2010 presentation that China's socialism has enabled it to "make decisions efficiently, organise effectively and concentrate resources to accomplish large undertakings".

The report went on to state: "In the eyes of some Chinese, and even some foreigners, authoritarianism has gained a new legitimacy."

At the centre of China's unique political system is its multi-party cooperation system, consisting of nine political parties, which incidentally fall under the leadership of the modernised and free market-oriented Communist Party of China (CPC). Ninety years old and 78 million members strong, the CPC is a unified whole based on its own programme and constitution, organised in accordance with what the Chinese call 'democratic centralism'. China's multi-party cooperation system, which isn't anywhere close to the multi-party competition systems elsewhere, was born out of the Chinese Revolution and is felt best suited for China's circumstances.

The party is divided into three levels: the central, provincial and primary. All have distinct but mutually connected roles. The central, as expected, is the highest decision-making authority. The CPC central and provincial levels can put together their own representative organisations where they see fit, for example, districts and industries. Further, the primary level represents the on-the-ground link between the masses and the CPC.

The system is then anchored by six basic principles of democratic centralism. The most significant, though, states that all party members follow the Party organisations; the minority follows the majority; lower-level organisations follow higher-level organisations; all party bodies and party members follow the National Party Congress and Central. It makes for defined flow of authority and management that may very well be holding together China to this very day.

WESTERN LIBERAL DEMOCRACY

It may not work well here, but in China, it apparently does. Western liberal democracies have their fair share of challenges. The recent and very dangerous political gamesmanship on the part of Washington politics on lifting the federal debt ceiling, which continues to cause serious global repercussions, is a case in point. Professor Ferguson noted in his Newsweek piece on the debt ceiling debate that: "... It's hard to imagine what more we could have done to vindicate the Chinese Communist Party's position that Western democracy is a form of institutionalised chaos to be avoided by all sane Asians."

While we in Jamaica will continue to adhere to the traditions of Western liberal democracy inherited from our former colonial masters, China's style of governance offers amazing insight and generates ideas on bringing about stability, discipline, order, efficiency and unhindered growth and development. Singapore's founding father, former prime minister, and minister mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, in a well-documented 1992 speech titled 'Democracy, Human Rights and the Realities', said, "With few exceptions, democracy has not brought good government to new developing countries ... . What Asians value may not necessarily be what Americans or Europeans value. Westerners value the freedoms and liberties of the individual. As an Asian of Chinese cultural background, my values are for a government which is honest, effective and efficient."

Interestingly, China's much-hailed reformer and senior political leader Deng Xiaoping is said to have taken on board Lee's advice in the late 1970s. Deng led the economic, social and political reforms that brought about China's rapid and continued economic ascension.

LOOKING AHEAD

It is expected that in October next year, the CPC will hold a national party congress. The Economist, in its special report, pointed out that this meeting, "... a smaller one of the party's central committees immediately afterwards, and a session of the legislature in March 2013, will endorse the biggest shuffle in China's leadership for a decade. The president, Hu Jintao, and (Premier) Mr Wen (Jiaboa) will step down from the pinnacle of power, the nine-member standing committee of the Politburo. A younger generation will begin to take over."

Jamaica, with quite a bit of popularity in China, primarily as a result of the Usain Bolt fever, must aggressively develop on its already strong relationship with the Chinese, and their pragmatism and determination to succeed offer great guidance to us all. Our young leaders, in particular, should seek to strengthen critical connections and learn from the Chinese experience as we seek to transform Jamaica.

Delano Seiveright is president of Generation 2000 (G2K), the young-professional affiliate of the Jamaica Labour Party. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and delanoseiveright@yahoo.com.