Abstract:
Within a span of three decades, China has become an economic
superpower and a major factor in shaping global political order. China
is now the world’s second largest economy; second largest trading
nation (with trade volume more than EU); and holder of largest foreign
currency reserves, now over US$ 3 trillion. This is a giant leap from
1976 when “one-third of industrial enterprises in China were losing
money, nation’s trade was a meagre US$ 13.4 billion and its foreign
exchange reserves US$ 580 million.”1
Today, China’s exports of one day
equals its exports for the entire year of 1978.
China’s miracle is not just the difference in national economic figures
of the last forty years but the fact that this transformation has been
achieved without altering the country’s political system, which remains
centralised under the Communist Party of China (CPC). In China,
Marxist-Leninist political philosophy and capitalist business models seem
to be complementary and locked in symbiotic relationship. The key to
understanding the Chinese miracle is finding how the Communist
leadership has created a system that harmonises Marx and Lenin with
Adam Smith and Keynes.
China’s economic miracle inspires many developing countries to
adopt similar policies and approaches. Notwithstanding the inimitability
of China’s model, developing countries, including Pakistan, can draw
critical lessons from China in reforms and governance to optimise their
own pursuits of national economic and social development.
