While in the Czech Republic the concept of a planned economy is more of a laughing stock, in China, according to ČSSD Vice-Chair Jana Volfová, it has been working for a long time. Volfová praised China's ability to think in terms of decades and centuries and urged Czech politicians to learn from the Asian superpower.

„When you say planned economy in the Czech Republic, we all smile. In our country it has never worked,“ uvedla Volfová. „But look at China, where the 15th Five-Year Plan is already running, and it just works. That's to be envied.“

According to Volfová, planning is essential especially for large infrastructure projects. „A power plant, especially a nuclear power plant, will not be built in five years. A dam will not be built in five years. If there is no long-term planning, a new government will come in, a new policy will come in, and everything will be cancelled - as it is commonly done today.“ řekla.

Volfová recalled that China is not a country that thinks in terms of four or five years. „China is a millennial empire. Its emperors have long known that the development of the country should be planned gradually. China is just building on a long tradition and doing it well,“ dodala.

According to the Vice-Chair of the Czech Social Democratic Party, Czech politics should stop focusing only on the electoral period. „We need to start planning again. To look at what this country needs in ten, fifteen, twenty, maybe a hundred years. We should learn from China on this,“ zdůraznila.

„China doesn't think about individual politicians. It thinks about China as a whole. A country that needs to be developed. And they've done it,“ uzavřela Volfová.

CMG