Birthday of China’s late reformist leader sparks calls for bolder reform By Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) – Some Chinese economists called for bolder reforms on Thursday, the birthday of late reformist leader Deng Xiaoping, with several comments censored amid authorities’ heightened sensitivity to criticism of economic policy.

Thursday marks the 120th birthday of Deng, who sparked historic reforms in 1978 to allow more private enterprise and opened the economy to foreign investment, paving the way for decades of soaring growth.

At an agenda-setting meeting last month, China’s leaders unveiled reforms that some experts say do not go far enough to boost private sector confidence and the sagging economy.

A critical article by one of China’s most prominent liberal economists and a professor at Peking University, Zhang Weiying, was deleted twice by Chinese internet censors on Thursday after it was widely shared on the social media network. social WeChat.

The article, originally published in 2018 and recirculated on Thursday, praised Deng for his courage to embrace market forces at the cost of state planning and act boldly on reforms as he tries to “cross the river by groping for stones”.

His tone reflects a broader disillusionment among China’s liberal economists with the slow pace of reforms. Others, in articles that have not been removed, also used Deng’s anniversary to express their reformist views.

“China has once again reached a crossroads in history,” Wang Zhigang, an economist with a think tank, said in an article posted online.

“Only by thoroughly reviewing, sorting through and inheriting Deng’s legacy, and carrying forward the past and opening up the future can we best commemorate Xiaoping and this great era.”

In a speech published by state news agency Xinhua, President Xi Jinping hailed Deng as “the chief architect of China’s socialist reform, opening-up and modernization.”

On social media platform Weibo (NASDAQ: ), trending hashtags related to Deng’s birthday received a total of 50 million views as of Thursday afternoon. The vast majority of posts were state media and government offices posting tributes to his life.

Deng died in 1997 at the age of 92.