Source: CNBC

Carnegie’s Evan Feigenbaum appeared on CNBC to discuss what to look for from the Third Plenum of the 18th Chinese Communist Party Congress, which is expected to launch wide-ranging economic reforms. Feigenbaum pointed out that reform is best viewed as a process rather than an event, and that the most important thing to come out of the Plenum will be a sense of the broad direction in which reforms over the coming five years will move. He asserted that the highest priority for the Plenum should be to outline what the role of the state is going to be in the coming years, particularly in three areas: the state's relationship to markets, its relationship to its citizens, and the way in which it is organized. These three areas correspond to three high priority reforms: reducing energy and other factor price distortions, rural land reform to give peasants stronger property rights, and restructuring of the fiscal relationship between the central and local governments. Overall, Feigenbaum said that he sees reason for optimism about the coming reform announcement.

This interview was originally aired on CNBC.