In his recent article entitled, "Our Historical Task at the Primary Stage of Socialism...", Premier Wen Jiabao systematically discusses China's foreign and domestic policy. For many readers it was inspiring; the Premier's candid admission that our country is not a developed one was especially moving.

But Wen did not stop at saying that we are a developing country, or that "our average GDP isn't high, that 20 million Chinese are struggling to satisfy basic needs, that the rural and the urban are not fairly developed." He went on to say, "We should also speak of how the socialist system is immature and imperfect."

Most discussions about what of China is under-developed mention productivity or the economy. Rarely, if at all, do they mention systemic or institutional problems.

This is not a practical attitude. Systemic and institutional deficiencies are evident when social equality and justice are not realized to a high enough degree, when political progress is not keeping pace with economic progress, when the legal system isn't robust, and when democratic rights need to be increased.

But for the nation to become developed, what path must we go down?

Wen writes, 'We should boldly utilize all of the achievements of humanity... Science, democracy, law, freedom, and human rights are not the sole properties of capitalism, but in the long course of human history, are commonly pursued value systems and achievements of civilization. Capitalism and socialism are not contradictory.' We believe that the maturity of our system is indeed reflected by the adoption of these 'achievements of humanity'. Whether or not we use, as the article says, the main ideas of democratic politics, will be 'the main symbol of whether or not the socialist system is mature'.

In adopting these common achievements of civilization, we will dispel the world's skepticism that China is developing peacefully and encourage mutual international trust. In the faithful pursuit of democratic politics, freedom, law, and these other common value systems, China and other countries can cast aside their differences in ideology and embrace their greatest common denominator. This will allow China to more smoothly join the world community and do so with credibility.

But there must be steady progress in political reform in order to reach this point. Deng Xiaoping has said, 'The success of all our reforms is still dependant on reform of the political system. And as President Hu Jintao echoed while visiting the USA, 'We have consistently held that without democratic rights we cannot be called modernized. Which is to say, since the reform and opening up of China, we have not just been forcefully pushing economic reform, but actively and safely pushing reform in the political system, enlarging the democratic rights of citizens.'

Wen repeats these sentiments in the essay when he suggests that a nation's level of modernization is not just measured by productivity-- without a mature and perfected democratic political system, it isn't a developed country.

We can now honestly admit that our system is not mature. The next step, moving towards reform and increased democratic rights, will require selflessness and courage.

Some have concluded that since reform and opening up, the process of reforming China's political system has experienced different levels of dialogue and action, including periods of 'much talk and no action'.

While these are unreliable simplifications, with them in mind, it is clear that in order to establish a harmonious society, and beyond that, a strategy for a harmonious world, it is time to both talk, and do, more.