Society's participation is important for reform

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang said that reform brings China major benefits. He believes that reform should pay attention to people's rights, and proposes that the fruits of reform should be consolidated by the rule of law.

Instead of making the cake bigger and bigger, China urgently needs to cut the cake fairly. But that will offend the interests of some groups.

The government has set up 11 district-level reform experimental zones to build a learning curve for future reforms.

The problem is that the experimental zones are under the control of local governments.

So the breakthroughs the reforms achieve depend on how innovative the local governments are.

Governments should be more open to innovations and participation from society, which entails a much more vigorous and developed society. Local authorities should not be concerned about the potential threat of a plural society to the stability of governance.

Interests groups have already formed systematic powers to defend their structures and privileges, and further reforms may be deadlocked if governments don't listen to society.

Li grabbed the bull by the horns when he said that the government should make better use of its social powers and return the functions that should be played by the market and society back to the market and society.

Governments should listen to society when it comes to setting the agenda of the reforms.

Translated by Li Yang from 21st Century Business Herald