Wu Guangqiang jw368@163.com IN September, President Xi Jinping delivered a speech via video from Beijing to a high-level meeting in honor of the United Nations’ 75th anniversary, elaborating on China’s stance on various key issues. With regard to China’s new development strategy, Xi said, “We aim to foster, over time, a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and with domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other. This will create more space for China’s economic development and add impetus to global economic recovery and growth.” This is the first time on an international occasion that the Chinese leadership has mentioned the concept of “dual circulation.” However, since May, on many domestic occasions, Xi has stressed the urgency of speeding up the formation of the “dual circulation” development pattern. With China’s per-capita GDP approaching US$10,000, it is inevitable to shift China’s outgoing economy to one that relies more on the domestic market. China’s foreign trade dependence ratio has dropped from 60 percent in 2006 to 31.8 percent in 2019. Yet, the ratio is still too high, the result of which is too many resources are used to satisfy overseas markets while rapidly growing domestic demands for quality products and services are neglected and unfulfilled. There is much greater potential for China to seek further growth from satisfying colossal domestic demands than from satisfying foreign demands. I even believe that China’s consumption market within a decade could be several times that of the U.S. The key to promoting the domestic circulation is encouraging more household consumption, which is currently a weak link. For the majority of the population, several barriers are discouraging them from spending their limited incomes, including the high costs of housing, medical care and children’s education. Too many young people are scared off from getting married by daunting burdens of a house purchase, child raising and education, and so on. Many married couples are struggling with making ends meet, so they don’t have much spare money to spend on items other than daily necessities. They even balk at the idea of having a baby. Therefore, there is much that can be done to ensure that the people live a secure and comfortable life. The first and the most important measure is to raise residents’ income. According to recently released data, in 2019, Chinese residents’ median per capita annual disposable income stood at 26,523 yuan (US$3,960), or 2,210 yuan monthly. Objectively speaking, for the majority of the population, their spending power is rather feeble. Increasing residents’ income, however, is a tricky issue. It seems impractical to hand out money to the population for consumption as the U.S. Government does, as it is over-drafting the future. Nor is it possible to fill up people’s pockets by offering them a well-paid job, since economic growth can hardly outpace the rising living costs. The only possible solution for now is the provision of a safety net for all: social security, employment, housing, health care, education, aid for the needy and so on. In this sense, social justice and equity should speak louder. Taking housing as an example, unbridled housing prices will not only deprive the people of their hopes for a better life, but strangle a city or a nation’s vigor and creativity. So it is inevitable for governments at all levels to reduce their reliance on the so-called land finance, and instead allocate more resources to build housing that is affordable for lower-income classes. Other measures also matter: further reduce health care and education costs. It requires joint effort from different government agencies and social sectors. At any rate, it is intolerable to see many schools and kindergartens, particularly private ones, still raising their tuition and fees at will. Another area that could produce immediate stimulation for consumption is the renewal of old cities, which, unfortunately, is being neglected. In Shenzhen, there are tens of thousands of old apartment buildings, most of which are without lifts. There have been cries from citizens to renew these worn-out living quarters. Most residents are willing to invest in the projects to improve their living conditions. Adding lifts to the old buildings alone can create huge spending. (The author is an English tutor and freelance writer.) | 