IBTimes.com

On the eve of celebrating the 30th anniversary for China's first special economic zones, Premier Wen Jiabao called for political reform to safeguard its economic health. The political reform is good, but China should make it wisely, experts said.

"The reforms has to happen for China to stay ahead and lead the world," said Ted Sun,an international professor and expert based in the US.  "They cannot afford not to do it, but knowing how to do it wisely is the key."

According to Sun, China will make the moves since the global environment of business still sees some practices as major threat.

"Any flourishing economy must have the environment of ethical and transparent decision-making, accountability for business and government leaders," said Steven Currall, Dean and Professor of Management at University of California, Davis.  "I applaud as he (Premier Wen) advanced political reform to further enhance ethical transparency and accountability."

"And business leaders must have trust in government leaders and those who regulate business, so the Premier is wise to further strengthen that relationship between business and government," Currall told IBTimes in an phone interview.

In spite of the many questions from domestic and foreign environment, Currall believes it is ""strongly advisable" and "vital" for China to take the political reform.

However, as China is a huge country with the largest population,  it takes sustained efforts from the central government, the provinces and the cities to accomplish it.

"It's an ongoing process, it's not done once," Currall said. "It's an ongoing process for all of the countries, not only for China."

Currall said the challenges are mainly in implementation, and Sun saw the issue similarly as he noted the difficulty of balancing both Chinese traditions and Western practices without all of its inherent problems.

"The risk is the common management diseases that China may feel if they adopt some of the western practices," Sun said.

"Most government reforms start with a focus on preventing problems, so they often are reactive to problems that happen.  This creates a context that focus on the worst of humanity," Sun said.

Sun noted the assumption that people need to be "led" diminishes the collective. 

"As a collective society, China can create policy reform based on what it ideal.   Using a solution-orientation is the best way to create reforms that focus on achieving the best, and not just control the worst.  That's the directional aspect - a focus on the long term success of the Chinese people.

"The second aspect is the test-and-measure approach.  Many government create new laws and policies without a solid scientific approach.  With new ideas or any kinds of reform, there's no need to 'hope' that it works.  Test is in a smaller environment first and enhance it as feedback comes. 

"This is much like the process for the farming system that China adopted in 1984 after seeing its success," Sun concluded.

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