Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Maoist revival that hit China "is a barrier that prevents the reforms that we need if we want to save the country's economic growth. Instead of returning to the old formulas we must focus on rule of law, constitutional government and democracy", says Wu Jinglian, one of the most famous economists of the country-inspired liberal economic adviser to former President Jiang Zemin.
The academic is referring to the so-called "Chongqing Model", the populist economic policy led by Bo Xilai: the politician who suddenly fell from grace at the last National People's Congress, was a promoter of the return to the model - and the economic measures - of the times of Mao Zedong. After his expulsion from the Politburo, Bo is currently "in custody" but not much else is known, because it is said that he wanted to organize a coup in China.
Wu accuses Bo of " populism. but it caused many problems for Chongqing's budget. One cannot invest such huge resources while having little regard for where such resources come from. One also has to consider whether such investments produce returns." According to the economist, then, "no progress has been made of any kind since the eighties in the last century."
The model to follow, he concludes, "is the village of Wukan. Reforms that are also pioneering in Shenzhen, which would enable NGOs to register without a government sponsor, this is a good sign."
