China must keep moving forward, economic researchers agree

The Uncertain Future By: Zheng Yongnian Publisher: Citic Press Year Published: 2014.6 Price: 49 yuan ($7.88) Pages: 312 pages

Take a look at today’s new issues on China’s imminent future and one thing is certain — reform is at the center of discussion in the country, and no backing off or standing still is allowed.

That’s the unanimous message from researchers of Chinese economy and society in the past year, especially in the wake of the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in November.

"The biggest risk for China right now is remaining still," argues Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore in the beginning of The Uncertain Future, a new release that combs through the circumstances the country now faces.

"Reform, whatever it brings along, can be dealt with, but if China stays put, the consequences will be out of anyone’s control," Zheng writes.

"It’s come to the point that not reform means total failure." For Zheng, the pull against proper reform comes from the country’s fragmented power structure.

"Unless it’s concentrated enough, the (reform) momentum may be set off by very powerful vested interests," he writes.

So Zheng applauds the establishment of central and provincial governmental groups that directly watch over reform. He also suggests that social reform is especially important to the next round of growth.

"Without proper social reform, China will find it very difficult to establish a consumer society, therefore never creating enough demand from within." Wu Jinglian, one of the country’s most influential economists who also recently compiled Facing the Great Transformation, considers the crucial next steps to be empowering the market and further implementing the rule of law.