Wu Guangqiang

    AN emerging power, China’s every move draws attention at home and abroad. So does every buzzword from Beijing that may signal a major change in China’s policies.

    The latest catchphrase is “inclusive growth.” In China, it first appeared in a speech delivered by President Hu Jintao at an international conference. However, the term, rather than a Chinese creation, was first put forward by the Asian Development Bank in 2007, referring to “balanced social and economic progress through sustainable development.”

    As opposed to the mere pursuit of greater economic power, inclusive growth calls for equal opportunities for growth. Accordingly, China’s State development strategy will shift from going after speed of growth to quality of growth. This is underscored by the fact that no GDP target was mentioned in the Communique of the Fifth Plenum of the 17th Central Committee of the CPC.

    What has brought about this major shift in China’s development strategy? Two notable imbalances.

    The first imbalance is that of social strata, namely the imbalance between people. Historically, social unrest and even revolutions in China have chiefly derived from discontent more with the uneven distribution of wealth than with scarcity.

    The gap between the rich and the poor has grown so wide now that the country is losing its momentum for further progress. According to a World Bank report, the Gini coefficient for China, a main measure of income distribution, surged to 0.47 in 2009, exceeding the warning line of 0.4. This figure was 0.21-0.27 three decades ago. The world sees an uncomfortable picture: the Chinese haves are on shopping sprees in Paris and New York, snapping up Gucci handbags and Rolex watches, while the have-nots are struggling to bring home the bacon.

    Two factors have contributed to this ever-widening divide: Residents’ income has been too small a proportion of national income over the past years. This means a large percentage of the population has benefited little from the country’s fast development. Interest groups and powers-that-be have amassed wealth at the expense of the public interest. A general consensus has been reached across the country that tangible measures must be taken to make the coming 12th Five-Year Program (2011-2015) promote substantial improvement in the livelihood of the majority.

    The second imbalance is that between development and the environment. Undeniably, China’s economic development, while having turned one of the poorest countries into a relatively better-off one, has been accompanied by the depredation of nature. In 2006, China consumed 40 percent of the world’s coal, 50 percent of its cement, 60 percent of its steel and about 70 percent of its oil and natural gas, only to produce 5 percent of global GDP. Things have improved over the years (comparable figures for more recent years are unavailable), but a reversal won’t take place until a major shift is made.

    Now that the new strategy for the future has been laid out, China is entering a new stage of development. China has dashed through thick and thin in the past 30 years to achieve its goals, now it is time for its development to move to a more sustainable and equitable track. A China with an affluent and peace-loving people living in harmony with nature will make the world a better place to live.

    (The author is an English tutor and a freelance writer.)