China's Economic Modernisation and Structural Changes

The following sections are included:

• Prologue: Remembering Professor John C.H. Wong: A Special Tribute by Y.Y. KUEH
• Biography
• List of Contributors
• Contents
• Introduction by ZHENG Yongnian and Sarah Y TONG

China has enjoyed high growth for about four decades. However, the changing domestic and global conditions have led to the urgency for major structural transformation. This is well recognised by Chinese policymakers who adopted the term “new normal” economic growth. The new normal growth implies slow sustainable growth which is steering profound structural changes in the Chinese economy. How far have structural changes gone? What will be the challenges faced by policymakers in the future? These are some of the questions to be explored in this chapter…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Comparison of the Roles of the Government
• Adapting to the Market while Maintaining State Capacity
• Implications for Financial Liberalisation
• Concluding Remarks

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Fiscal Reforms and Fiscal Policies in the Past Four Decades
• Rapid Economic Growth
• Challenges Facing the Fiscal System
• Fiscal Reforms for High-Quality Growth
• Conclusion

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Liberalisation with “Chinese Characteristics”
• Controlled Capital Account Liberalisation
• Implications for Further Liberalisation

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Monopoly as Market Imperfection in China
• Development of Competition Policy in China
• AML Enforcement
• Achievements and Issues of Recent Developments of Competition Policy
• Recent Initiatives in Competition Policy

There are differing, and even conflicting, views on China’s role in the global stage of science, technology and innovation (S&TI). On one hand, as this chapter demonstrates, various indicators show that China’s S&TI capability has been rising significantly and China will be highly likely to become a world leader in S&TI soon. On the other hand, most recently, ZTE Corporation, China’s second largest telecommunications equipment maker, not only saw its market value plummeting some $43 billion but also had to cease its operation because it was cut off from the key components such as semiconductors that it used to source from the United States for its violation of the American export control regime. It points to serious foreign technological dependence and vulnerability of not only ZTE but also probably China’s high-tech industry as a whole. Therefore, amid the ongoing trade disputes between China and the United States, it seems to be the right time to take a comprehensive look at where China stands in terms of its S&TI…

The past decade or so since 2005 has witnessed the rapid growth of fiscal funding for education in China, and along with it tremendous efforts from the government to develop and improve the educational finance system. This chapter provides an analysis of the development of the country’s educational finance system over time and seeks to add a layer of insight to the fundamental issues and challenges of the system in the future on the basis of a rough division of the development of China’s educational finance system since the country’s reform and opening up into three stages, namely 1978–2005, 2005–present and from the present forward.

The following sections are included:

• The Contribution of E-commerce to China’s Economic Growth
• The Scope of e-Commerce in China
• The Supporting Policies
• The Implication for Southeast Asia
• The Southeast Asian Countries’ e-Commerce Policy

Since 2013, changes in the governance of state firms in China has resulted in the entire state sector becoming increasingly “financialised.” In a purely definitional sense, this means that control over state firms is increasingly exercised by financial means, operating at a distance, through corporate governance institutions similar to those in other economies. However, it must be emphasised from the outset that this financialisation has taken place in a particular context. After decades in which the Chinese government was primarily withdrawing from direct management of the economy (through market-oriented economic reforms, 1978 to about 2006), China has begun to re-emphasise the primacy of government-defined national goals. Crucially, though, these goals are mainly pursued through financial means. The result has been an increasingly interventionist government, steering increasingly important state firms, through financial instruments. Changes introduced as part of the broad reform package of the 2013 Third Plenum have, perhaps unexpectedly, been an important part of this phenomenon…

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Previous SOE Reforms and the Pitfalls
• The Renewed Push to Reform the State Sector
• The Prospects of Future Development: An Assessment

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Literature Review
• A Simple Model
• Policy Implications
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgement

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Concentration and Convergence of the Provincial Economies
• The Changing Economic Landscape in a Global Perspective
• Estimation of Provincial Fiscal Power
• Fiscal Power and Its Political–Economic Implications

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Housing Affordability Issues in China
• Housing Rights in China — National Level
• Central–Local Relations in Housing Policymaking in China
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgement

The following sections are included:

• Introduction
• Spillover Effects of GVCs
• GVCs and the Global Expansion of China’s Exports
• Concluding Remarks

The following sections are included:

• Appendix
• Index