Reform is key to China's development model

When Hu Jintao told the 18th Party congress that China will reject "any attempt to take an erroneous path," some Western media responded by saying that "CPC is reluctant to make reforms."

It's an arbitrary verdict, as they have little idea of China's reality and CPC's history. Actually, reform has been a social consensus in China, and it is a key feature of the "Chinese model" that contributed to the nation's tremendous success of the past 30 years. The wheels of reform will never stop. China will take its own path, as blindly copying the Western political system is doomed to fail.

Chinese-style reform is incremental, not sudden revolution. History tells us that reform helps ease social burdens and move the entire nation forward, while revolution brings nothing but massive destruction and chaos. That is why China becomes a country where reform prevails, and revolution doesn't hold water.

Second, reform should keep pace with the times. Reform should neither be stagnant nor radical. Today, agricultural taxes have been abolished and farmers are included in the social security net. But 30 years ago, these policies might have been deemed as radical and impossible to get by. Also, if the time is ripe, political reforms will move its way, or it runs counter to the principle of moving with the times.

Reform is not ideology-based. In the past 30 years, China has learned a lot from the West. For example, Chinese reforms on employment laws, minimum wage and social security all took clues from the West.

Why is Deng Xiaoping still remembered by the Chinese people？He was the architect of China's road to development and started the reform campaign that continues to this day. The new leaders will carry on his spirit and enrich the content of the development model in reforms and keep opening up to the world.