By Jia Shen, DRC

2017-1-24

The year of 2017 will witness a number of political events. In 2017, the United States, Germany, France, South Korea and some other countries have held or will hold government re-election and China will usher in the 19th CPC National Congress in the latter half of this year.

First, in this year China needs to focus on its own development. From the international perspective, the government systems of the United States, Germany, France, South Korea and relevant countries have become relatively mature, and the interest groups have already taken their place. People need not to be bothered by the impact resulting from the political and policy changes of these industrialized countries. From the domestic perspective, as long as China keeps its development momentum, no country could stop its rising. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee has, based on the past experience and pilot practice, had a very clear understanding and judgment on China’s social and economic development, and made systematic arrangements for reform, which must be followed as the general guiding principles for future reform.

Second, another point to be noticed in 2017 is the re-election of local governments in China. In order to bring into play the role of local governments in regional development, this paper puts forward three policy options. 1. Local governments need to have a long-term strategic view relating to development. Most of the regions and cities with relatively fast growth have followed the guidance of scientific-oriented development strategies. 2. Local development plans should be mapped out with correct development concepts and in light of local conditions for addressing their development problems. 3. Local governments need to strive to promote the effective implementation of relevant strategies and policies and local officials need to make double efforts for better development results.

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