China: Deng Xiao Ping

China has accomplished a tremendous growth over the last thirty years. One of the contributing factors is the emergence of Deng Xiao Ping as China’s leader. It was Deng’s Reform and Openness policy that first allowed China to prosper economically and embark on a path of more “Reform and Openness”.
Deng Xiao Ping is a pragmatic leader who advocated economic progress without sacrificing the party’s command in power. Deng’s knowledge and emergence finally started China on the road for development. The global market and Russia’s developmental path caught Deng’s eyes. He realized China’s potential to attract FDI because of China’s relatively large supply of cheap labor and the potential market base in China. He understood that China needed to modernize itself and opened itself up to the world. Therefore, he took slow and deliberate steps towards reform. The Chinese experimented with different models to attract FDI. The most successful is Deng’s Special Economic Zones that gave special packages and benefits to lure FDI in China. These SEZ boomed tremendously. More ports were then opened up and the recent transformation began. Shanghai and Shenzhen’s success are the results of the SEZ.
Positive results of reform further encouraged reform and more opening to Foreign Trade. The Chinese government began to alter its system to meet the needs of the foreign companies. Labor and trade laws were changed to accommodate the standards of the foreign companies. FDI has been instrumental in helping China get access to foreign technology and to modernize. The first reforms began by Deng has made the Chinese very excellent at tapping into global knowledge. China now realizes the importance of integrating into the world economy and the benefits that they’ve received from this integration. FDI has modernized China, it made China to be on a road of bettering their infrastructures and etc. China’s economic growth has prompted China to become such a big global player and the global status that it enjoys today.
China might’ve never reached where it stands today had Deng not been its new leader. Deng wasn’t concerned about unifying the country or to fight for power like the Mao decades. He knows that economic success will unify China. Had China gotten a leader like Mao who just wants to obtain more power, China might’ve never opened itself to the world. Deng's role in China's Post Communist road and economic success is very important.