Late Chinese reformist leader's birthday stirs calls for bolder reform

Visitors stand in front of a screen showing late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping at an exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up at the National Museum of China in Beijing, China November 14, 2018. /Thomas Peter/File Photo

BEIJING - Some Chinese economists called for bolder reforms on Thursday, the birthday of late reformist leader Deng Xiaoping, with several comments censored amid the authorities' increased sensitivity to criticism of economic policy.

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

A critical article by one of China's most prominent liberal economists and a professor at Peking University, Zhang Weiying, was twice deleted by Chinese internet censors on Thursday, after being widely circulated on social network 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 while trying to "cross the river by feeling the stones".

Its tone reflects broader disappointment among China's liberal economists over the slow pace of reforms. Others, in articles which have not been taken down, also used the Deng anniversary to air their reformist views.

"China has once again come to a crossroads in history," Wang Zhigang, an economist with a think tank, said in an article posted online.

"Only by thoroughly reviewing, sorting out, 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 on state-run Xinhua news agency, President Xi Jinping hailed Deng as the "chief architect of China's socialist reform, opening up, and modernisation".

On social media platform Weibo, trending hashtags related to Deng's birthday received a combined 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 age 92.