Late Chinese reformist leader's birthday stirs calls for bolder reform

Weibo

23/08/2024 01:53

(RPT of story published August 22, 20249:11 PM GMT+8)
       BEIJING, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Some Chinese economists
called for bolder reforms on Thursday, the birthday of late
reformist leader Deng Xiaoping, with several comments censored
amid the authorities' increased sensitivity to criticism of
economic policy.
    Thursday marks the 120th birthday of Deng, who unleashed
historic reforms in 1978 to allow more private enterprise and
opened the economy to foreign investment, paving the way for
decades of breakneck growth. 
At an agenda-setting meeting last month, China's leaders
unveiled reforms that some experts say do not go far enough to
boost private-sector confidence and the flagging economy.
    A critical article by one of China's most prominent liberal
economists and a professor at Peking University, Zhang Weiying,
was twice deleted by Chinese internet censors on Thursday, after
being widely circulated on social network WeChat.
    The article, originally published in 2018 and recirculated
on Thursday, praised Deng for his courage to embrace market
forces at the cost of state planning and act boldly on reforms
while trying to "cross the river by feeling the stones".
    Its tone reflects broader disappointment among China's
liberal economists over the slow pace of reforms. Others, in
articles which have not been taken down, also used the Deng
anniversary to air their reformist views. 
    "China has once again come to a crossroads in history," Wang
Zhigang, an economist with a think tank, said in an article
posted online.
    "Only by thoroughly reviewing, sorting out, and inheriting
Deng's legacy and carrying forward the past and opening up the
future can we best commemorate Xiaoping and this great era."
    In a speech published on state-run Xinhua news agency,
President Xi Jinping hailed Deng as the "chief architect of
China's socialist reform, opening up, and modernisation".
    On social media platform Weibo, trending hashtags related to
Deng's birthday received a combined 50 million views as of
Thursday afternoon. The vast majority of posts were state media
and government offices posting tributes to his life. 
    Deng died in 1997 at age 92.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen and Kevin Yao; editing by Antoni
Slodkowski and Mark Heinrich)
((mailto:kevin.yao@thomsonreuters.com; +8610 5669 2128;))