Progress in advancing reforms
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012, a series of tangible achievements have been made in China’s efforts to comprehensively deepen reforms. These achievements have been the result of the leadership’s focus on improving people’s lives over the past five years, as shown by the inclusion of more than 1.3 billion people into the country’s basic medical insurance network and the launch of a nationwide government-subsidized housing program that has considerably improved the living conditions for many urban residents.
China has carried out complicated reforms in various fields, and so any scientific and objective evaluation of its reforms is inseparable from scientific methodology. Only with an all-round, dialectical and historical perspective can one come to a responsible conclusion about China’s reforms.
For example, the relatively slow progress China has made in pushing forward hukou (household registration) reform in its megacities cannot be used as an excuse to raise doubts about its overall efforts in this regard, since most small and medium-sized cities have fully suspended their restrictions on acquiring a local hukou. And reform of China’s healthcare system, for example, has generally reduced patients’ medical costs and raised doctors’ payments despite the vested interests that have had to be overcome.
Patience is required. It is normal for reforms not to achieve immediate effects in certain areas as they have now entered the deep-water areas, and resolve is needed to ensure they have the intended effects. The tightened financial regulations and strengthened measures to promote environmental protection will surely guide a new development approach and sustain China’s long-term development, although they may bring restraints to the market.
China welcomes criticism and opinions offered with goodwill, but critics should shake off any bias when looking at China. Even the most critical of Western observers have to admit that China has made progress in a variety of areas. — PEOPLE’S DAILY