China's 30 years of economic reform has gone through several stages - from price liberalization, enterprise regrouping and opening up to redistribution of power between the central and local governments. The next 30 years, I suppose, will see the focus shift to political reform. It is only logical that economic reform precedes political reform.

Although political reform has been attached great importance since the Deng Xiaoping era, it has not progressed enough. The slow pace, however, was not unexpected because the country had to build a learning curve to transform into a market economy and understand labor division.

There is a great hue and cry to democratize the political system further, because democracy is usually mistaken to be the panacea for all political ills. But democratization of a political system is only an optional means rather than the end. Let's take a crude example. In market economy, we have the freedom to choose what and where to eat. On the contrary, if more than 50 percent of the people reach a consensus on a dinner menu or restaurant, the others will have no choice but to bow to the will of the majority. That means democracy could at times deprive the minority group of its rights even at the cost of sacrificing efficiency.