Vital Chinese lessons for South Africa

When Mao Zedong declared the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949, little did the world expect that decades later, China would emerge as the second largest economy on the globe.

What followed Mao’s Marxism-Leninism was Deng Xiaoping’s Theory of Three Represents and Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era – underscoring the thinking behind China’s rapid economic growth and reforms, which have attracted trillions in foreign direct investment.

A vital lesson to draw for South Africa in the Chinese revolution has been the visionary leadership of Mao, Deng and Xi – behind that country’s long-term planning, which has yielded the desired economic growth and political stability.

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It is against this background that I have been following with keen interest proceedings at the recent four-day, 20th gathering of the central committee (CC) of the Communist Party of China, which convened its third plenary session in Beijing.

The CC heard and discussed a report on the work of the political bureau, presented by CC general secretary Xi, adopting a set of resolutions on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernisation.

Behind this strategy is the 14th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development – long-range objectives through the year 2035. The long-term plan is designed to rejuvenate and strengthen the Chinese economy.

“Regarding economic structural reform, as the spearhead and greater social fairness, justice and improvements in the people’s well-being as our ultimate objectives, we will make our reforms more integrated, focused and effective,” read part of the resolution.

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“We will work to better adapt the relationsof production to the productive forces, the superstructure to the economic base and national governance to social development – so as to provide strong impetus and institutional support for Chinese modernisation.

“Sound macro regulation, along with effective governance by the government, is essential for ensuring that we can fully leverage the institutional strengths of our socialist market economy.

The resolution added: “It is, therefore, vital that we improve our macro regulation systems. We must pursue coordinated reforms in the fiscal, tax, financial and other major sectors; and work to enhance the consistency of macro policy orientation.

“We will improve the property rights system to ensure law-based, equitable protection of the property rights of economic entities under all forms of ownership on a long-term basis and establish an efficient system for the comprehensive management of intellectual property rights.

“We will refine the market information disclosure system and put in place a commercial secrets protection system.

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“All economic entities, regardless of their form of ownership, will be treated as equals when their property rights and legal interests are infringed upon or they infringe upon the property rights and legal interests of others.”

Breaking from the usual Western malevolent foreign policy rhetoric towards China, the group CEO of Eurasian Resources Group, Benedikt Sobotka, said: “When we talk about geopolitics, all of this is perception. Less than 2% of the population in Europe and the United States, have never been to China.

“What they know and understand is something they have heard from someone else.

“There can be no green energy transition without China – by far the largest market for solar panels, hydroelectric power stations, wind farms and electric vehicles.”