Reflect on the leadership in China. China's ruling Communist elite has brilliantly managed to reform its economy without giving up power. Three hundred million people has been moved out poverty within the last 25 years, and China is currently the greatest producer of coal, steel, cement, and many other materials.
However, these stunning economic reforms are not matched evenly by political reforms. After 2009 December’s contentious Copenhagen climate meeting, China was heavily reprimanded for failure to exercise leadership. But it’s important to consider the speed at which China is evolving into a global leader, and the implications for both China and the world. Despite all these challenges, I feel that the most challenging of all would be to nurture a new generation of leaders that will lead China to the top. Without them, Beijing's public promises of a prosperous, democratic future will go unfulfilled. With predecessors such as Deng Xiaoping and Mao Zedong to raise the leadership standards, there is a huge burden on the next generation of leaders to perform well.
China's "Fifth Generation" is set to take the reins of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by 2013. The most defining collective experience for these leaders was the hardship of the Cultural Revolution and the resulting missed opportunities for formal education. The Fifth Generation lacks the strong political bonds of previous leadership generations and consists of leaders from a variety of class backgrounds. Their educational credentials differ from the fourth generation, reflecting a shift from technical disciplines to economics, politics, and law. These emerging leaders also have more extensive foreign education than their predecessors. Can they perform the political breakthroughs required for China to be a world leader?
Also important is the issue on democracy. Should China require a breakthrough in democracy to become a world leader? True, it has progressed thus far with the wisdom of its leaders, but can this continue forever? All it requires is one wrong decision by the ruling elite to bring decades of effort to naught. If democracy is to be introduced, however, then more discussion could be made and there could be greater insight into the various issues. It can also be argued that democracy is less efficient than communism with all the discussions causing delays in implementation.
For example, during the 2008 Sichuan Great Earthquake, Premier Wen Jiabao arrived at the disaster area just 90 minutes of the incident. This, and many other measures taken won praise globally for the efficiency and instantaneous response. Compared to Taiwan, during the Typhoon Morakot in 2009, where Taiwan's ruling democratic party Guomintang has been heavily criticized for reacting slowly after Morakot. According to Radio French Internationale, widespread media criticism accused the President of being too proud to ask for outside help from the United States, Japan and Singapore. (http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/116/article_4747.asp)I believe this reflects the efficiency between Communism and Democracy, where communism is capable of speedy responses, unlike democracy which requires much discussions and hence more delays. With that in mind, China should consider if it truly should incorporate democracy into its political system.
Last but not least, we should reflect on what the current (and past) leadership has contributed economically. Chinese President Hu Jintao came into office eight years ago with the ambitious goal of closing a widening wealth gap by equalizing economic growth between the rural interior and coastal cities. Some coastal urban areas fast approaches Western standards of living, while much of the interior remains mired in Third World conditions. And the faster the coast grows, the more dependent China becomes on the money from that growth to facilitate employment and subsidize the rural population.
It is also of no help that some international companies operating in China already are beginning to consider relocating manufacturing operations to places with cheaper labor or back to their home countries to save on transportation costs Chinese wages are no longer mitigating. For example, Foxconn, a contract manufacturer with renowned products such as the iPhone and the iPad, has been pressured to raise its wages to ward of suicides and protests happening this year. This has led to a "domino effect" where other foreign companies based in China are also pressured to raise their wages. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/china-business/7807903/Foxconn-suicide-factory-raises-pay-70pc.html)
To conclude, China's ruling elite faces many challenges politically, the most pressing matters including the recruitment of the next generation of leaders, as well as the issue of democracy. However, apart from politics, economic reforms still have to be made to resolve the major rich-poor gap in China. The leadership in China has progressed far, but definitely have more room for improvement.
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