For immediate release 18 May 1995
PROMINENT CHINESE ECONOMIST
SPEAKS ON CHINA’S ECONOMXC REFORM
“The only way out for China’s economy lies in accelerating and deepening its reforms,” says a leading Chinese economist, Professor Wu Jinglian.
A Senior Research Fellow of the Development Research Centre of the State Council, Professor Wu speaks on “Major Obstacles to China’s Drive for Marketization” this afternoon at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Describing China’s economic reform as facing a critical turn at this juncture, Professor Wu says a major obstacle has been the opposition of those with vested interests who neither support furthering reforms nor advocate returning to the old economy.
Professor Wu maintains that the reform of state enterprises will help solve today’s economic problems. “Small and medium-sized state enterprises should be contracted, rented or sold, while large state enterprises should be restructured to become joint-stock companies where ownership is freely transferable ,” he says.
The liberal economist rejected the notion that only by retaining the traditional structure of state enterprises can China be regarded as upholding socialism. ” The essence of socialism is maintaining social justice and realising shared wealth. Ownership and economic operation are only means to achieving these goals. The understanding of public ownership should be modified with the passage of time.”
Professor Wu, who teaches at the Postgraduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is the chief editor of two magazines, Refirm and Comparison.
He is here on a one-week visit at the invitation of the Division of Social Science of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
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