China's reform is of significance to world

BEIJING - The just-concluded Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee and its decision on major reforms have outlined the blueprint for China's future development.

Overseas experts believe that the plenum and its detailed document on  "major issues concerning comprehensively deepening reforms" are of great significance both to China and the whole world.

The plenum was not only important for China, but also for the global economy, Cheng Li, director of research of the John Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"...(the decisions) can not only uplift public confidence through new economic opportunities and new sources for growth, but also undermine criticism and fear that economic reforms will not go far without other reforms," he said.

Yukon Huang, senior researcher with Washington-based think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said in a commentary piece on Financial Times that "China's future lies as much in maintaining political stability as in sustaining rapid growth."

"Fiscal reforms and reduced dependence on banks will improve transparency and promote accountability. Rolling back the power of state enterprises and streamlining government procedures will restrain opportunities for rent seeking. Promotion of a services-oriented economy will reduce dependence on energy-intensive industries and help mitigate environmental degradation," the commentary read.

He concluded that all this will give substance to the "Chinese Dream."

The key concerns of the plenum are: breaking state monopolies, reforming land rights and intervening less in the market to release more vigor in the economy, said Alexei Maslov, head of School of Oriental Studies at State University - Higher School of Economics in Russia.

Joe Foudy at the Stern School of Business of New York University sees three challenges in China's reforms: how to overcome those vested interests, how to sequence these reforms and what the speed is going to be?

Chheang Vannarith, lecturer of Asia Pacific Studies at the University of Leeds, applauded China's decision to open up the banking sector by allowing qualified private capital to set up small- and medium-sized banks.

He said that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the foundation of the economy, and financing is one of the key issues facing them.

"China needs also to assist the SMEs to be part of the national and international production network driven by Chinese multinational corporations," he said.

Former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski said "it's a very encouraging turn of event, which emphasizes China's constructive leading role in the far east but also international affairs generally."

"We have to strive to infuse increasingly significant strategic content into our relationship," he said, adding that the key is working together on issues that go beyond the scope of economic ties.

"I really appreciated the decisions of the plenum that outline a commitment on the market and on the green economy as well as on the ability to handle competition with a positive perspective," Milan Mayor  Giuliano Pisapia said in an interview with Xinhua, adding "which means for example avoiding situations of monopoly, that are always negative."

"Simplification and de-bureaucratization are efforts that we are all doing but only few have managed to make in a positive way and with the ability to extend it to a wider territory," he said.

To comprehensively deepen reforms not only helps China plant the seeds for development, but also provides a possible solution to global problems such as maintaining world peace and stability, eradicating poverty and protecting the environment, Chairman of the Bulgaria-China forum and former Bulgarian Vice President Angel Marin said.

One challenge facing China is how to respond to the international community's expectation of the creation of a successful society model, which can be an example of sustainable development, he said.