China shedding its image as a developing country
China shedding its image as a developing country
Harry Bhaskara, The Jakarta Post, Beijing
This is the second article in a series based on a visit to
China by courtesy of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of China.
For Indonesians used to being in a crowd, the serenity of Beijing
Airport is anomalous.
It was as though our group of six were the only passengers to
have landed that Wednesday morning in late November.
Perhaps, it was an exception but new arrivals would invariably
feel there was room enough for everyone. The 30-minute drive from
the airport to our hotel was free from congestion.
The chilly air in early winter was a cool change as Jakarta
was basking in 35 centigrade.
The smooth ride on the expressway, the well-built high-rise
buildings and the intelligent urban planning match those in
developed countries.
Indeed, this first-world feeling lingered as we traveled
around the country to Beijing, Xining, in the western Qinghai
province and to Xiamen in southeastern Fujian.
When looking at a Beijing city map, the Imperial Palace or the
Forbidden City -- now a public museum -- is the core of the city
which spreads out from the epicenter in a grid-like pattern and
makes it easy for new arrival to work out where they are going.
Each city expansion has been enclosed by a ring road, giving
birth to nicknames such as Ring One for the inner-city proper,
where the Palace, the Tiananmen square and the National People's
Congress building are.
Today Beijing, with an area of 16,800 square kilometers --
about 25 times the size of Jakarta -- and a population of 14.5
million, has expanded up to Ring Six.
Prior to our visit to Xining, about 1,300 kilometers west of
Beijing with an elevation of about 2,000 meters above sea level,
we were told that it was in Qinghai, which was one of the most
backward provinces in China.
But, in fact, we found few signs of backwardness there. On the
surface at least, the city seemed to be a smaller version of
Beijing. But locals remembered the bad times well.
"All these high-rise buildings only came into existence in
2000," a Xining resident told The Jakarta Post.
Fang Li has more to tell. The deputy director general at the
foreign affairs office of the province said that in 1996 Xining
had only one street, three multi-storey buildings, and two police
stations.
Since China began to reform its economy in 1978, the gap
between the rich and the poor has been one of the most urgent
problems. Initially, four provinces were designated as economic
zones, including Xiamen. Ten years later, a market economy spread
throughout the country and China has since grown by leaps and
bounds.
Regardless of the reforms, Chinese leaders continue to give
credit, some might say lip-service, to socialism.
"Socialism in its initial stages is similar to capitalism,"
Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said in his office in Beijing.
"This initial stage," he said, "will go on for 100 years or
more. It is a task borne by one generation after another, in
order to reach a higher level."
Wu acknowledged that the government had committed mistakes in
implementing socialism in the past, obliquely referring to the
central economic planning that ruled China since the communists
swept into power in 1949.
Describing the global economic developments in the past 100
years with ease and insight, Wu said that barring unfounded
changes, China would continue its high-level growth for another
30 years.
As upbeat as his predictions, Wu exuded ease and confidence.
This attitude, it turned out, was common in most civil servants
encountered in the trip, both in the villages and cities.
Economic growth seemed to be the core of government officials'
endeavors but it was also evident that Chinese officials and
businessmen were accustomed to looking at things with long-term
perspectives.
Wu was sharing his view in terms the next 100 years. Poverty
relief officials in Qinghai talked about decades of consistent
growth to alleviate poverty in the province. China's GDP,
meanwhile, is not waiting around, zipping along at a palpitating
9.1 percent.
The confidence was also evidence among Chinese government
officials in implementing regional autonomy, a source of
headaches in Indonesia.
Pragmatism rules the game when it comes to regional autonomy
in China. Officials at the provincial level of the Foreign
Affairs Ministry office, for example, have the right to strike a
deal with foreign businessmen.
A district official in Xiamen is authorized to approve all
foreign investments below US$30 million.
Bigger projects are handled by the provincial and central
government, according to Li Peixiang, vice governor of the
People's Government of Xiamen's Haicang district.
In this district, 46 percent of the total investment was made
by Taiwan businessmen. It alone is a tangible result of the
liberal policy.
If this is not enough, China has other intangible assets like
its hard working people and its respect for the arts.
In Xiamen, it is not unusual for shops to stay open until 11
o'clock at night. Street traders of all ages stood guarding their
wares braving the cold weather of winter until close to midnight.
On nearby Gulang Yu island, a well-known businessman from the
island who loved music, especially the piano, put up a public
museum to the instrument. Inside the museum, some 30 odd pianos
including ancient ones, still in prime condition, were on public
display.
While China is a developing country in transition -- it
certainly has the characteristics of a developed country.