On/Off the Record
By P.R. Pradhan
This scribe had the opportunity to participate in the 5th World Media Summit in Guangzhou, China. The summit with the theme “Boosting Global Confidence, Promoting Media Development,” which took place from 1 to 8 December 2023 was attended by more than 450 representatives of nearly 200 institutions from over 100 countries and regions, including media outlets, think tanks, and international organizations. The attendees took part in extensive discussions to contribute media power to the construction of a brighter future. Panel discussions were held on different topics, including “Humanomics, a new concept in global economic prosperity. Different researchers and economic experts expressed their remarks while unveiling the research report during the ongoing 5th World Media Summit, shedding light on China’s practice of a new development format that underscores the symbiotic relationship between humanities and economy.
The report, titled “The Humanomics in the New Era,” was released by New China Research (NCR), the think tank under Xinhua, in Guangzhou.
Structured into seven parts, it offers an overview of China’s new development format focusing on a people-centered approach and the integrated development of culture and economy in the process of advancing Chinese modernization.
Addressing the report launch ceremony, Fu Hua, president of Xinhua and chairman of the academic committee of NCR, said that the Communist Party of China, along with its people, has persistently expanded the Chinese path to modernization on the new journey of the new era.
China is progressing toward high-quality development as it pursues the symbiotic interaction of humanities and economy, creating a new model for human advancement and attaining globally acclaimed achievements, Fu added.
“Humanomics in the new era” has gradually taken shape, demonstrating distinct features that emphasize the symbiosis of culture and economy, promote a people-centred philosophy of development, and highlight the integration of tradition and modernity, he noted.
Xinhua News Agency anticipates fostering exchanges and collaboration with media outlets worldwide using platforms including the World Media Summit, propelling new advancements in the reporting and research of humanomics in the new era, Fu said.
Other speakers who shared their insights at the event include Martin Jacques, former senior fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies, Cambridge University; Zheng Yongnian, chairman of the Guangzhou Institute of the GBA; Maria Bernarda Llorente, president of Telam in Argentina.
They agreed that China has explored a path where human and economic development thrive together as it pursues high-quality development, adding that this experience is worth studying.
A central thread running through the Xinhua think tank report is the distinctive character of Chinese modernization from that of the West, said Jacques.
Zafar Uddin Mahmood, president of Understanding China Forum, a Pakistan-based think tank, believes that humanities can be developed into a science, saying that the report proposed a new direction regarding the relations between humanities and economy.
Hailing China’s remarkable achievements, Victoria Panova, vice-rector of Russia’s National Research University-Higher School of Economics, said that the report released by Xinhua introduced a new concept, which is of great importance to the world. She called for drawing inspiration from the finest achievements of each other’s civilizations.
Indeed, we have seen many pros and cons, as well as ups and downs, in capitalism. Capitalism is an individual-centric economic system that undervalues socialism. The new concept of economy, humanomics, gives priority to socialism and the upliftment of society instead of the individual. This is a mixed economy in which the three components—the private sector, public-private joint partnerships, and government undertakings—come into function. Humanomics in the New Era is based on “socialism with the Chinese characteristics”.
Capitalism is based on the demand and supply theory. The market price is determined by the demand and supply. In such a system, brokers and middlemen exploit the producers and consumers, which Nepal is facing today. For example, Nepali farmers produce vegetables and middlemen capture the product and send it to the consumer market taking a huge profit margin. In such a case, vegetable farmers and consumers have been exploited by the middlemen. The main challenge of the Nepali economy is how to break the strong networking of the middlemen and brokers. There should be a strong mechanism to check and balance the market. Sometimes, it needed to intervene in the market by mobilizing the government undertakings and also the institutions constituted through public-private partnerships.
King Mahendra introduced a mixed economy in Nepal. The Panchayat era economy was a mix-up of good components of both economics — capitalism and communism. The state was doing business by establishing many government undertakings. Also, the Salt Trading-like institutions were established under the public-private partnership. These institutions helped to check and balance the market.
Recently, during the festival season of Dasain and Tihar in Nepal, we saw a shortage of sugar in the market. If the government undertakings were effective, this problem could be easily tackled. Since Nepal adopted a free market economy and disposed of many government undertakings saying that the government should not do business, Nepal is facing such a crisis again and again. Every time, there is a shortage of fertilizer during the farming season. This has occurred due to the stronghold of the brokers and middlemen. Creating shortage and taking benefit of such scarcity are the practices taking place in the country. Besides, the present unemployment problem is the result of the shutdown of the labour-consuming government undertakings. The country has turned into a consumer country from a country exporting many agricultural items in the past. The country’s trade deficit is widening year by year. No confusion, the present economic anomalies are the result of the adoption of the free market economy. King Mahendra was a wise and foresighted dynamic leader who had adopted a mixed economy and established many industries during the short period of his 10-year rule.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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