To change is as vital as adapting to it

By You Nuo (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-10 08:35

Exactly 20 years ago, change finally came to Europe. The Berlin Wall crumbled, followed by German reunification, disintegration of the Soviet Union and redrawing of the map of the Eastern Bloc, and then by a truly global economic integration, which ironically was first envisaged in the Communist Manifesto.

The reason why people expected the Berlin Wall to collapse was that it had developed many cracks, both in concept and in reality. What it shielded was a system that had long been alienated from its purpose, as seen by the radical intellectuals who had thought of the necessity to build it.

Indeed, having followed the Soviet-style planned economy but mindful of the cracks, the Chinese government dismantled its ideological wall, which separated the Chinese mainland from the then British colony of Hong Kong, 10 years before the Berlin Wall came crashing down.

The "one country, two systems" principle was proposed by Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China's reform and opening up, to welcome what later became the norm of the day: market economy and global trade.

But as the world has learned since, the opening of a wall is only a departure from the past for an inevitable journey, rather than an arrival at a triumphant, if not perfect, state. Freedom and peace in Europe is worth celebrating.

But the struggle of the East Europeans to rebuild their countries and shake off their economic legacy is enough of an example of the global system's slowness in re-integrating the change.

The old global system, admittedly more productive than the planned economy, has not been able to adjust itself quickly and smoothly enough to accommodate the huge number of new workers and urban residents - not to mention the population that in developed and developing countries both, which is yet to get any benefit of the change of the past 20 years.

China has learned from the ups and downs in the nation's reform and opening up, that more often than not, change-makers have to adapt to the changes that they introduce.

The global economic crisis is a signal that the old market economy is at times crippled by its own limitations, both in concept and practice.

The international community needs to expand, as the experience in Europe shows, its network and cooperation to cover the basic economic rights and activities of those still struggling to get a foothold. It also needs to recast its economic model to incorporate sustainability and green economy.

Without these, the breaking down of any wall, or manmade structure, separating people would not necessarily mean new connectivity and the sense of freedom and responsibility that are supposed to come with it.

Visible walls are easy to demolish. But invisible ones are not, and if not brought down, they can easily transform into visible ones.

Such invisible walls are insufficient aid to alleviate poverty, inadequate development support to and rise in trade protectionism against developing countries, lack of economic benefits and civil rights, and wide gaps among people from different categories.

All these factors were present in the 1980s, when Deng proposed the idea of one country, two systems. Many Hong Kong residents then looked down upon their brethren on the Chinese mainland as nothing but a bunch of country bumpkins with no idea how market economy worked. They were proud, and with good reason, to be the only channel that could create new opportunities for the mainland.

But after the mainland, especially its entire coastal region, developed, Hong Kong learned to reposition itself.

Mainlanders no longer regard Hong Kong as a source of cheap manufacturing investment, but as a hub of professional services through which they can connect with business centers across the world.

This synergy, developed between formerly separate and seemingly incommensurable entities, hardly fits any category of the old ideologies.

E-mail: younuo@chinadaily.com.cn