China is slowing warming to the idea that government cannot be
completely responsible for all of a country’s economic decisions.
Witness some of their comments
about
how the market must do some of this on its own. Perhaps after all the
egregious errors of prediction in the first ten 5-year plans, they are
ready to admit that it isn’t necessary to plan coal production for 2009
right now. Quote of the year is from Fan Jianping, director of the economic forecasting department of the State Information Centre, who admitted that it was necessary to determine "which area is the responsibility of the government and which should be left to the market".