By Philip Yeung
Two Sessions as a problem-solver and state planner
China's annual parliament is now in session. This legislative body boasts an incredible record of success in the past several decades. Even foreign analysts have heaped praise on its ability to accomplish over 85% of the goals it sets for the nation. They are doers, not talkers.
China faces mounting challenges, domestically and internationally. It must dig deep to come up with coping measures. Under Trump, America doesn't have a president. It has a predator. He has hardly warmed his seat before provoking other countries, including China, into an economic street fight.
Three hot issues
Yes, China must address front-loaded issues head-on. But longer-term systemic solutions also call for attention, if the country is to be proactive, and not merely reactive. At the street level, I see three issues that sizzle.
H-1B Visa
One, immigration. I don't mean that China should open its gates wide and accept any foreign nationals that come knocking. Think of the US. Despite its flood of intractable problems: gun violence, racial tensions, dysfunctional partisanship, social chaos, and an increasingly unequal society, America remains unchallenged in one area: its ability to attract the best and brightest brains from around the world. The vehicle for this purpose is its H-1B visa, with an annual quota of 85,000, designed especially for the highly-skilled foreign experts. With a residency cap of three years, expert-level visa-holders see this as the stepping-stone to a green card. America uses this visa to address its skill shortages in strategic domains. Over the years, it has become a key driver of the US economy, allowing America to maintain its leadership in technological and entrepreneurial innovation. Its impact on the tech sector, in particular, is immeasurable.
Each H-1B visa, on average, generates 7.5 new jobs. China's employment situation looks dreary at the moment and can use the injection of foreign funds and talents to help arrest the economic slow-down.
Elon Musk was a H-1 B visa-holder
Don't be shocked if I told you that Elon Musk was a previous H-1B visa-holder. Like him or loathe him, he is a change-maker on a global scale with an epic impact on America society. And he is not even a home-grown US talent.
Opportunities will surge if China opens the floodgates to let in foreign top-tier talents. It's time China broke US monopoly on talent recruitment and turned itself into a magnet for attracting economic and technological change agents. To a lesser extent, Canada and Australia have tapped into the dividends of this policy, attracting funds and skills that grow their economy. China can give the US a run for its money as a talent headhunter.
No pre-construction sales of property
Another urgent issue concerns housing. The housing bubble has a cascading effect on the Chinese economy. The collapse of the property sector is attributable to overambitious and unrestrained building sprees and overextended credit, made possible by so-called pre-construction sales that entice buyers with attractive discounts. China must learn its bitter lesson and rein in uncontrolled over-building. China is practically the only country where nearly every city is littered with abandoned or half-finished building projects. These ghost buildings have now come back to haunt developers, buyers, banks and the government. Pre-construction sales of property are a risky gamble. Buy only what you can see and use. No fuss, no muss.
Hospital overcharges
The third issue concerns patient-doctor disputes. For financially tight households controlling the costs of medical treatments in for-profit hospitals can be a matter of life-and-death. Unconscionable prescription of unnecessary lab tests, expensive drugs and outright overcharging for surgical procedures are not uncommon in city hospitals. I was one such victim of medical overcharging. I once went to a hospital for the surgical removal of bladder stones. Initially, the doctor-in-charge told me the procedure would cost six thousand yuan, but when he discovered that my employer was a joint-venture university with generous medical coverage, he suddenly told me, just as I was being wheeled into the operating theatre, that the surgery fee was actually twenty four thousand dollars. I felt like a lamb in a slaughterhouse. I protested but to no avail. Overcharging is a cause of workplace violence against doctors, a phenomenon unique to China. Medical fees should be regulated, not left to the whim of the attending or senior physician. China has made remarkable inroads into healthcare, but the absence of patients' rights has worsened into violence against doctors. Physicians should honor their Hippocratic Oath to put the welfare of patients before profit.
Putting our faith in the people's parliament
These are issues that trouble the ordinary joes. They are legitimate concerns for the Two Sessions. In China, when its people's parliament pivots to people's problems, no challenge is too big, and no issue is unsolvable.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | The show is all Trump, all the time
Opinion | Diplomacy, Trump style
Opinion | Australia, you are barking up the wrong tree—China is not your enemy
Opinion | How to tame Trump—make it messy, lengthy and sleepy
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