China opens key party session, reform tops agenda(3)

A GLOBAL CHALLENGE

Analysts say both China and the rest of the world is pinning hopes on reform.

Western developed economies still in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis face the choice of reform or impasse. For the developed countries that have taken a reform course, significant progress seems to be elusive.

The Obama Administration has not yet achieved breakthroughs in financial and fiscal reforms; the European Union is mired in the debt crisis; and Japan is exhausted in turning around persisting economic stagnation.

In an atmosphere of lackluster global recovery, the performance of the Chinese economy is under the international microscope, according to Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore.

It is not unreasonable to contend that China's internal economic vitality will drive the world down a similar path, he said.

Liu Heung Shing said, "Actually, reform takes place in every country, but in the 20th and 21st centuries nowhere has it been as influential as in China, stirring the interest of the whole world."

The analysts say the CPC, governing the world's largest developing country, has a dual task.

It has to confront domestic problems such as a 1.3-billion population, the urban-rural gap, income disparity and diverse interests.

Globally, it needs to explore a new approach to the development of humankind by leading China into both competition and cooperation with other systems.

The analysts believe reform in China has been successful yet unfinished. For future reform, practice will provide the answers.