China needs more reform not less
The outside world now takes it for granted that China is set on a path of ever-deepening economic reform that will underpin its inexorable rise to economic superpower status a few decades from now. Yet inside China things look rather different. A backlash against economic reform has gathered force, and the logic of liberalisation is being challenged to an extent not seen since the immediate aftermath of the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
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While outsiders marvel at China's economic growth and urban prosperity, domestic critics blame market reforms for exacerbating inequality and promoting social unrest. They are right to draw attention to the shortcomings of China's development model and the contradictions of its "socialist market system". But they are wrong in their prescription of what needs to be done to put them right.
There are many serious problems in China today, economic progress notwithstanding. The countryside is teeming with unrest, with 87,000 recorded "public order disturbances" last year. Inequality has exploded, with rural incomes less than one third urban incomes. The environment has suffered terrible degradation, and in much of the country, health, education and other social services have collapsed.
But the anti-reformers - a motley coalition of old-school leftists, celebrity academics, insiders who benefit from state allocation of capital and outsiders angry at being left behind - have no solutions to offer. Nor could they, because their diagnosis is completely wrong. China's problems are the result of state failure, not market failure. They demand further market reforms and reform of the state itself.
Economic reform has indeed widened the rural-urban income gap. However this gap is exacerbated by China's system of classifying workers as rural or urban residents, preventing rural workers from freely moving to the cities and enjoying full rights there.
Rural unrest, meanwhile, owes less to income gaps than it does to the corrupt and capricious rule of local Communist party officials. A stronger system of private property rights, to guard against the arbitrary confiscation of land for development, would calm the countryside. So would a freer press, able to challenge corruption and act as a safety valve for public outrage.
The state does need to do more to guarantee the delivery of core public services, including health, education and old age pensions. The central government can afford to fund more local services, reducing the need for local governments to fund themselves by arbitrary levies or collusion with private developers. But effective delivery will require local government reform.
China's pre-eminent leaders have so far declined to come down decisively on either side of the debate. Encouragingly, president Hu Jintao told the National People's Congress that China must "unshakably persist with economic reform". Yet the leadership also cemented its promise not to allow foreigners to take majority stakes in state-owned banks, and deferred a draft bill on property rights.
To some extent the reform process is on auto-pilot, thanks to Zhu Rongji, the former premier, who tied it to trade and jobs through commitments to the World Trade Organisation. But leadership is still required. With the old consensus disintegrating, Mr Hu and Wen Jiabao, the prime minister, should show their hand and fashion a fresh commitment to further, deeper reform.
中国需要更多改革
如今，外界想当然地认为，中国必定会走上一条经济改革日益深化的道路，以此支撑中国的必然崛起，数十年后成为超级经济大国。但在中国内部，情况看上去相当不同。反对经济改革的阻力已经上升，改革开放的理由正受到挑战，其程度之严重，为1989年天安门民主抗议遭镇压后紧接着的那段时期以来所未见。
外人对中国经济增长和城市繁荣惊叹不已，但国内批评者指责市场改革，称这些改革使不平等现象进一步恶化，加剧了社会动荡。他们要求人们关注中国发展模式的缺陷以及“社会主义市场经济”的各种矛盾。这无可非议。但他们为解决问题而开的药方错了。
在当今的中国，尽管经济取得了进步，但仍存在许多严重问题。农村地区的社会不安现象很多，去年就有8.7万件“扰乱公共秩序”案。不平等状况愈演愈烈，农村居民收入不及城市居民的三分之一。环境急剧恶化，在国内大部分地区，医疗卫生、教育和其它社会服务已经瘫痪。
但反对改革的人没有提供任何解决办法。他们也拿不出什么办法，因为他们的诊断是完全错误的。这些人是一个鱼龙混杂的联合体，有老式左派、知名学者，也有从国家的资本分配中得益的内部人士和因未能得益而愤愤不平的外部人士。中国的问题是因政府失效，而非市场失效造成的。这些问题要求推行进一步市场改革，也要求政府本身进行改革。
经济改革的确加大了城乡收入差距。但这一差距因中国的制度而恶化，这种制度将劳动者分成城镇和农村居民，妨碍了农村劳动者自由迁往城市并充分享受城市的各种权利。
同时，农村的动荡与其说是由收入差距引起，不如归咎于地方共产党官员的腐败及随心所欲的“领导”。建立更有力的私有产权体系，保护农村土地不会为了开发而被强行征用，将能稳定农村。增加新闻自由也是如此，这样做能挑战腐败并起到安全阀的作用，让公众排遣不满情绪。
政府确实需要采取更多措施，保障基本的公共服务，包括医疗卫生、教育和养老金。中央政府有财力为更多的地方公共服务提供资金，减少地方政府通过任意征收税费，或与私人开发商共谋获取资金的需求。但要有效实行这些政策，就需要对地方政府进行改革。
迄今，中国高层领导人回避对这场辩论明确表态。令人鼓舞的是，国家主席胡锦涛在全国人大会议期间表示，中国必须“毫不动摇地坚持改革方向”。但领导层也强化了有关不允许外资在国有银行持有多数股权的承诺，还延迟了物权法草案的通过。
在某种程度上，中国改革进程已进入自动飞行状态，这多亏了前总理朱
