Will Xi Jinping's reform and opening-up policy continue to be revised in his third term? - There is no change in his ambition to unify Taiwan.

フォードと鄧小平 Photo by David Hume Kennerly (licensed under CC0 1.0)

With the end of the Communist Party Congress and the start of Xi Jinping's third term, various reports have been made. Taken as a whole, it seems that the direction of revision of the reform and opening-up policy since Deng Xiaoping has been indicated. The results of Xi Jinping's economic policies are unclear in every sense, but it is clear that China's economy has grown due to the reform and opening-up path initiated by Deng Xiaoping, the partial introduction of market economic theory, and U.S.-China relations. Although Xi Jinping does not explicitly criticize these, what he is doing appears to be aiming for a return to the old style of Chinese socialism.

Although this is a country where individuals cannot own real estate, laws that allow individuals to buy and sell rented real estate are restricting growing real estate companies and forcing them into bankruptcy, and reining in the heads of growing companies like Alibaba. Does Xi Jinping think that these economic elements are a threat to China's socialist forces that were born on the path of reform and opening up? I have to say that his sense of being a threat is correct. This is because a liberal economy will destroy the socialist system.

In order for the economy to continue to grow, we must ensure as much freedom as possible. There are limits to simply investing in certain industries that the country has chosen as part of its national policy. A process in which these industrial investments are opened up to the private sector, private banks are free to make industrial investments, and private companies are free to commercialize services that have never existed before is an essential condition.

Various freedoms are essential for this, including freedom of speech, freedom of thought and belief, and academic freedom. This creates new social norms and new ways of living, which in turn leads to the creation of new products and services. Plants have a chance to flourish when they grow freely as intended.

Critics say that Xi Jinping has chosen stability over growth. What is worrisome, however, is that there has been no change to the ambition to unify Taiwan. Such restorationists are likely to advocate nationalism and wage wars of aggression. You can imagine this by looking at the current President Putin.